The Game of Life
by XDarkRider
Summary: E.N.D and Mavis play a game. The players? Humans and Demons. The objective? To convert humanity towards the light or the darkness. The life of the Fairy Tail members will no longer be the same once they meet the demons of Tartaros in this struggle for control.
1. Prologue

**I'm here with a new story! I've wanted to write a story about E.N.D ever since he was revealed. Of course my other story Dragon King of Fairy Tail will still be on going, I just couldn't get this story idea out of my head and had to write about it. Tell me what you think about this prologue**

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There wasn't much to look at; those were the first thoughts for Mavis Vermillion as she was standing in front of an empty looking mountain. There was no grass, no tree's, not even the occasional roots; just stone's and pebbles, Mavis glanced back and overlooked the small town below. She was currently on a job request, a difficult one at that, she had been given questioning looks due to her age and the fact that her guild has only been established for a couple of months, but she merely brushed them off; after all if she could get the job done, none of their opinions mattered. This was actually going to be her fourth job outside of Magnolia; she was used to it but was still a little nervous. Her job was to exterminate a demon that had been terrorizing the town; a job that was considered to be given to the higher level mages and not normally given to guilds that have been established for such a short time, but from what she has heard the mayor of the town has been getting desperate and has requested the job be delivered to every available guild. She took a deep breath before making her way up the mountain; from the information she gathered, the demon terrorizing the town was incredibly powerful, in fact many high level mages have been killed trying to complete this job, the council has even sent squadrons of rune knights to try and subjugate the demon but none returned alive; this job request was the mayors last attempt before the town would be forced to relocate.

Mavis made her way into a cave, she could feel an ominous presence coming from within. Taking a deep breath Mavis walked deeper and much to her surprise the deeper she traveled the brighter the cave started to become. She started to come across books littered across the floor, careful to not step on them, Mavis found herself in a large space, towers after towers of books piled all over the place, she looked around,

"you know, I've been wondering why demon's are always depicted as evil in these story books" a voice said catching Mavis off guard, she didn't say anything instead she tried to hide her presence,

"no need to be shy, I don't bite" Mavis squeezed passed the pile of books and found a young man sitting on the ground with multiple candles lit around, the man in her honest opinion was quite handsome though she did find it odd that his spiked hair was pink,

"hmm, so they decided to send a little girl this time, the mayor must be really desperate" he commented looking at Mavis,

"you must be the demon" she asked ignoring his comment about her

"bingo! You get a gold star" he closed the book he was reading, "but answer my first question, why are demon's always depicted as evil in stories?" Mavis was hesitant in answering; it was obvious that her next words would be the difference between life or death,

"it's a cliché" she said,

"a cliché?"

"that's right, most stories nowadays use cliché's to bring forth something familiar that the readers can identify, it becomes a template and prevents stories from being too foreign. In the end it set's a genre" she said hoping that her answer would satisfy the demon. Much to her relief he smiled, nodding in approval,

"good, good, you pass" he said giving her a short clap, "now tell me; what can I do for you?" Mavis paused, glad that she didn't anger the demon; despite his calm and playful look she could tell that the man in front of her was incredibly powerful,

"I am here to have you relocate" she said, the demon grinned,

"interesting choice of words" standing up, the man stretched, "but like I said, no need to hide, you're here to exterminate me" he spread his arms out, "well then give me your best shot" Mavis stepped back, unsure as to how she was supposed to react, there had to be something she was missing,

"I would like to try and not use violence" she said,

"hmm, an unusual reaction, normally people would jump at the chance to kill me" he let his hands fall by his side, "tell me, what is your name?"

"Mavis Vermillion" she said, the demon gave her a mock bow,

"greetings Mavis Vermillion, you may call me Natsu Dragneel or E.N.D; whatever fit's your taste" Mavis blinked, "so tell me Mavis how do you plan to remove me from this place?" honestly Mavis didn't know, everything that has happened so far has surprised her, she honestly didn't think that the demon would be so civil which was unlike any of the information she gathered. However a thought appeared, something she and Yury did when they first met,

"how about we play a game?" she finally said

"a game?" he said, judging by the smile Mavis guessed Natsu was interested,

"yes a game. This is a game of guessing the truths about one another"

"interesting... please explain" Mavis nodded,

"for example, let us say it was my turn, I would say 'you are a male', if what I said was true it would be your turn" she explained,

"so I would say something like 'you are female'" Mavis nodded

"that's right, the first person to guess wrong loses and of course you are not allowed to lie" Natsu crossed his arms,

"hmm, that sounds a bit too easy, there must be a catch" Mavis nodded,

"there is one additional rule. You are not allowed to say things that are related to each other, so things like 'you have eyes' and 'you have hair' otherwise the game will just keep going on forever" Natsu nodded,

"sounds fun!" he crossed his arms, eyes focused on the young girl before him,

"would you like to try a dry run?" Mavis asked,

"no, I think I've understood the game" he said, "but what do I get if I were to win?" Mavis' gaze looked into Natsu's

"what do you want?" she asked. Natsu grinned; he honestly found the girl in front of him intriguing; she was very different when compared to the other human's he's met,

"if I win, I want you to become mine" Mavis' eyes widened, a light blush formed on her cheeks, she took another step back,

"wh-what are you saying?" she stammered,

"I find you interesting, and I like interesting things" a little stunned by his words, Mavis tried to convince him,

"maybe you would like something else?" Natsu shook his head,

"I want you if I win" Mavis swallowed hard knowing full well that she couldn't change the demon's mind; the only thing she could do now was to make sure that she won.

"Then I will go first" Natsu said, "you are a female mage" he started with something simple, a smart move Mavis thought,

"you have pink hair" she too started easy; in all honesty she could have pulled the move she did with Yura, but something was telling her that Natsu also had a trick up his sleeve,

"you like fairies" he said, Mavis was surprised, she didn't expect for him to know that about her. Natsu smiled pointing at her clothes and bracelet, "you should probably wear less obvious accessories if you're trying to hide it" Mavis looked down at the fairy embroidery that was on the side of her dress and the small fairy shaped jewel hanging from her wrist; she blushed knowing that she was careless. She sighed, she needed to step up her game, she glanced around and took a good look at one of the open books Natsu had set down,

"all these books were written by you" Natsu smiled, bingo, she fell for his trap,

"you are correct in saying that they were written by me" his grin formed into a smirk, "but you are incorrect in assuming that these are books" as he said that some of the books started to glow before morphing. Mavis was now surrounded, "these books are in fact demon's"

"Master E.N.D" they all said in unison,

"this girl, do you wish for us to dispose of her?" a woman said her most notable feature was her hands which took the form of sharp scaly talon's. Natsu shook his head,

"no Kyouka, Mavis and I are playing a game" he turned to Mavis who was looking between the demon's warily, "and it would seem that I have won"

"not exactly" she said; Natsu raised a brow, "they may be demon's now, but from what I observe their existence is derived from the books you wrote. Meaning my statement was both correct and incorrect"

"I suppose you speak the truth, which would mean the game ends in a tie" Mavis nodded, she mentally sighed in relief, but at the same time realized she couldn't complete the main objective, "I suppose, we could end it as a tie" Natsu shrugged,

"that would mean none of our wagers matter" Mavis said,

"correct" Natsu started to ponder stroking his chin in deep thought, "I have a better game we can play" Mavis stared at him staying silent allowing him to continue, "a game of conquest" Mavis' eyes widened,

"you want to declare war?" she exclaimed, Natsu shook his head,

"of course not, now pay attention; the rules are simple, every once in a while we will select a random human in this country, my job is to convert them into demon's, your job is to ensure their humanity. The first person to convert ten people wins the game" Mavis didn't like the sound of it, to play around with human lives was against her moral code,

"let's play a different game" she tried, but Natsu shook his head,

"you chose the first game, it is my turn to choose one" Mavis' eyes narrowed obviously angry with disapproval "well, you can choose not to play the game and in that case, you will not leave this place alive" she could feel the stares of the other demons, and honestly she now had little choice, she knew she couldn't fight these odd's, it was either play the game and live, or not and die; despite having a body that didn't age she had a suspicion that the demons before her could easily destroy her. The best case scenario was to ensure every victory in each encounter so that nobody would get hurt. Mavis nodded,

"good, that's the spirit. As a gesture of good faith we will migrate to a different location and no longer step foot in the town below" Mavis was taken back not expecting him to take such action, "my wager is still present though, if I win you will become mine; but since your wager is no longer relevant, what would you like?" he asked, Mavis did not know what Natsu could offer her, however she did have an idea, or more like a contingency plan,

"if I win, you will be at my mercy" there was a brief moment of silence before Natsu burst out laughing,

"excellent! You've made this game more fun" he nodded, "I accept those conditions" there was a sudden light that bound around Natsu and Mavis. As the light dimmed Mavis slowly opened her eyes, before realizing there was a wing like mark on her hand,

"that is our contract; should you ever decide to run from your wager the mark on your hand will take control of your body and you will become a mere doll for the victor" Mavis swallowed nervously before nodding,

"I understand, but how will I know who will be part of the game?" she asked,

"do not worry, the mark on your hand will provide you with of all the information you will need" Mavis looked at the mark with interest, it didn't look like any rune she was familiar with, "now then, let us commence the start of the game!" and with another blinding light, Natsu and the other demon's disappeared along with his remaining books. Mavis looked around the now empty cave, falling to her knees she let out a breath of relief she didn't realize she was holding, she could no longer feel the demon's magical presence. Mavis didn't know whether or not she did the right thing, but she knew her life in the future will no longer be the same.

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Natsu stood on top of a pillar overlooking some ruins, a smile plastered on his lips; the other demons were busy carefully stacking the remaining of their master's books. He was in deep thought,

"a guild huh..." he mumbled to himself,

"Master E.N.D" a voice called out from below,

"Mard Geer; are the preparations complete?" the demon nodded; Natsu hopped off from where he stood and walked towards the center of the mountain of books, he did a quick count and nodded in approval, not including the eight demon's that stood on the sidelines there was a total of one hundred books. He clapped his hands, a few seconds later the books were eloped in a purple light,

"release!" he called, the purple light shot up piercing through the clouds. Slowly dimming down, Natsu looked around satisfied; he was no longer standing by books, but rather a horde of demon's, they all bowed before him,

"Master E.N.D!" they called,

"Our plans have changed my demons" he said, "my brother Zeref seeks to destroy humanity, he seeks to destroy this place, this country. However I have come to like this world, the human's are intriguing and make this world far from boring. I seek to fight against Zeref, I seek to ensure humanities survival, I seek to live in a world of entertainment" Natsu turned around, gazing into the eyes of his demons, "tell me, what are your allegiances?"

"we align to our creator, to the one who watches over us, to the one who has remained by our side, we follow Master E.N.D!" Natsu nodded, and saw Mard walking towards him,

"Master, why the sudden change?" he asked in a whisper, Natsu smiled,

"the game I'm playing has sparked an interesting experiment. I want to see what human nature truly turns out to be. Is it as pure as they are depicted in stories? Or are they just as much as demons as we are" Mard didn't say anything but the thought did make him curious, Natsu continued "now that I think about it I think we should become a guild"

"a guild?" Mard questioned,

"it sounds fun doesn't it, a guild of demons that is" Natsu turned to his demons a wide grin spread across his lips, he stepped forth, "Yes! From today onward's, we shall be known as Tartaros!"

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 **Just a quick authors note, I know that Zeref was the one who created Mard Geer and the other demons, but in this story they were all created by E.N.D.**


	2. Arc 1: The start of a new journey

**Hello all, here is the next chapter to The Game of Life, sorry for the delay, was figuring out how to fill the plot holes in this story. Anyways, this chapter was actually written based on my displeasure of the original chapter. In all honestly I felt that the _romance_ (if you could call it that) between Mavis and Zeref was rushed and just looked bad over all. If it was developed a bit more I probably could have liked the pairing that it was trying to establish (I think...) but right now I just dislike the over all development.  
Anyways don't want to go into a rant, this story will have some characters from Touhou and maybe Kantai Collection (I've been getting into it recently) though these characters will only be side characters and will not play major roles so you will only see them on the sidelines; unless you guys want to see more of these characters I might make a poll to see who you guys want to play more of a major role. Anyways enjoy!**

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It has been about ten years since Mavis agreed to play Natsu's game of conquest and a lot has happened, nothing related to the game however much to Natsu's displeasure. In the recent years the Fairy Tail Guild has grown significantly with their reputation increasing. Everything was going well, over time Mavis had managed to earn the name Fairy Tactician for her brilliant leadership on the battlefield; and much to everyone's excitement Yury had announced that he and his wife Rita were going to have a child. However her encounter with Zeref again has caused everything to go downhill. What did it mean to cherish life? Mavis no longer knew, her curse, her fears, the warning Zeref gave her, they were slowly becoming reality; the people around her, she could see it, they were all dying. Mavis isolated herself from civilization, living in the woods away from any living thing.

Natsu sighed hiding his presence, he was leaning against a tree not far from where Mavis sat; he was wondering why Mavis had not responded to any of the calls to start their game, he glared forward at the man walking towards him,

"You broke her Zeref" he said,

"Is that how you greet me now?" the dark mage asked coming into view, his face was stoic as usual, though when he looked at Natsu a small smile formed on his lips,

"Wasn't really a greeting, more like a statement" Natsu replied, his glare still ever present, "what did you do to her" Zeref didn't paused,

"I showed her the value of life" was his response; Natsu let out a heavy sigh rubbing his temples, that explained a lot. He knew the moment he met her that she possessed the same curse as Zeref, but chose not to say anything, learning the true meaning behind the curse would no doubt rip her reality apart, and he was right,

"So what exactly are you trying to pull" he asked his brother,

"Nothing that would concern you Natsu"

"I disagree" Zeref got a good look at Natsu, and for the first time since he resurrected him he saw determination in his eyes,

"What is she to you?" he asked Natsu who could only smirk in response,

"She is my possession, or will be my possession" Zeref didn't know how to respond, Natsu continued, "She and I are playing a game, a game of conquest you see; and I won't be able to play this game if she were to die" Zeref shook his head,

"When will you stop it with these useless games and finally fulfill your purpose" Natsu rolled his eyes,

"My purpose? The only purpose I have is something I reject"

"It is not something you can merely reject Natsu" Zeref exclaimed, "you must be the one to kill me, end my existence"

"I won't kill you Zeref, at least not yet" eyes narrowed Zeref grabbed Natsu by the collar,

"Why? Why won't you do it?" Natsu slapped his brother's hand away,

"Because it won't be fun" Zeref stepped away astounded, Natsu continued, "what fun will I have if the source of the worlds entertainment were to die right now? Besides your plan to destroy humanity is truly fascinating, I can't wait to see where you go from there" Zeref gritted his teeth with a mixture of anger and frustration,

"Don't you understand! That is precisely why you must kill me; to stop me from killing any more people" Natsu's grin disappeared and was replaced with a frown,

"And there you go again, why don't you learn to control that curse of yours and stop your wining"

"This curse is not something that should be controlled!" Natsu sighed,

"There is no point in trying to argue then" he then proceeded to look sternly at Zeref, "I'm going to warn you once and only once; stay away from Mavis" Zeref stared back not at all intimidated,

"And what? You will kill me?" he responded, Natsu chuckled shaking his head,

"Of course not" Natsu's eyes turned sadistic as he stepped closer to Zeref, "There are fates far worse than death after all" Zeref narrowed his eyes turning away knowing full well that Natsu could back up his threat; "ba bye!" Natsu called out in a sing song voice to Zeref's disappearing body. Natsu glanced back at Mavis' sitting form, he smirked, a plan forming; it was only a matter of time before she would become his. He pushed himself off the tree and made his way towards Mavis,

"So this is where you've been" he voiced his presence, Mavis looked up, her eyes were completely blank, "You haven't been answering my calls, I was beginning to feel ignored" Mavis didn't say anything but looked blankly at Natsu before looking back down at the ground. Natsu raised a brow folding his arms, before he heard a growl come from the girl,

"Ah! You must be hungry"

"I haven't eaten in over a year" she muttered, Natsu sighed shaking his head with bemused disapproval,

"That isn't good, you must take care of your body even if you are an immortal" he said, Mavis didn't say anything but she suddenly felt herself get lifted off the ground,

"Wh-what are you doing!" she cried out, Natsu flung her over his shoulder and began walking off,

"To go get something to eat, it is lunch you know, and I know this really good food stall"

"I can't! If I'm anywhere near civilization, people-" she was cut off,

"Yeah, yeah, people will die, Ankherseram's Curse, I know, you're acting just like Zeref and I don't like that" Mavis stopped flailing and looked to Natsu,

"You know Zeref?"

"my big bro, don't we look alike?" though she couldn't see it, Natsu flashed her a toothy grin,

"no, no you don't actually" was her response,

"oh? I've been told we could pass of as twins; but then again asking the blind guy back at home probably wasn't the best idea" Mavis let out a soft giggle,

"there you go, you laughed. Now isn't that better than being gloomy all the time" Mavis remained quite but her eyes looked to the back of Natsu's head,

"you say you two are brothers, but you are a demon and he is...human?" honestly Mavis didn't know what Zeref was anymore, in fact she didn't even know what she was anymore, could she call herself a human? Or was she a monster,

"when I was a child I died due to an illness" he started explaining, "my brother desperate to bring me back to life committed a taboo"

"taboo?" she asked,

"he cheated death, and in doing so cursed himself" Natsu chuckled to himself, "wanting to rid himself of this curse, he altered my existence and had given me the purpose to kill him; to do this he needed to create something that far exceeded any living being, he had to turn me into a demon"

"do you want to kill your brother?" she asked, this caused Natsu to burst out laughing,

"I don't, but all for the wrong reasons" Mavis decided not to pry into the subject, she did however have a good idea on his reason, just basing it on the type of character he was. There was a sudden aroma in the air, it smelled like eels? Natsu placed Mavis onto the ground; the girl looked to the source of the smell, there was a small food stall in the middle of the forest, Mavis' stomach growled once more,

"come on, let's get you fed" Natsu said, Mavis looked warily to him,

"why are you helping me?" she asked, Natsu grinned,

"From the kindness of my heart" Mavis' eyes narrowed at his answer, she highly doubted that. She looked away, but despite his reason, she still appreciated the gesture. She followed him closely towards the stall,

"Master!" a female voice called from the cart,

"Good to see you Mystia, I'll have two orders of grilled lampreys" Natsu responded,

"Coming right up!" the voice sounded, Mavis sat down next to Natsu and got a look at the girl behind the counter, she had a slim petite build and had pink hair that went to her shoulders, the most notable feature though were the pair of bird like wings that sprouted from her back,

"I'd like to introduce you to Mystia Lorelei, she is a night sparrow demon" the girl turned to Mavis and gave her a bright smile,

"It is nice to meet you" she said, Mavis gave her a short bow,

"Likewise; my name is Mavis Vermillion" she responded,

"What would you like to eat?" the night sparrow asked, Mavis was startled and did not know how to answer, she quickly looked to Natsu,

"I'll have what he's having" she answered, Mystia nodded turning around and getting back to her cooking. Mavis' appetite only grew as the smell of food intensified, the night sparrow turned around and placed two plates in front of them,

"Enjoy!" she chirped with a smile. Natsu without hesitation started digging into his food,

"Mystia's food is still the best around" he praised, the girl blushed with embarrassment,

"No, no, I still have much to learn"

"Ah, no need to be modest, it's the truth!" as the two spoke, Mavis stared at the food in front of her carefully, she felt her stomach growl once more before she caved and picked up a stick of grilled lamprey and bit into it;

"It's delicious" she whispered,

"Ms Vermillion, are you Master's friend?" Mystia asked, Natsu however was the one to answer,

"Indeed she is, the last time we met was a couple years back; so you could say this is a celebration for our reunion" Mystia clasped her hands,

"Wow! I'm honored that you would celebrate such an occasion here" Natsu laughed,

"Like I said, Mystia's food is the best" Mavis glanced between the two,

"Master?" she repeated to Natsu,

"Oh that's right I never told you did I" he responded, "I created a guild; it is called Tartaros, a guild of demons" Mavis' eyes widened,

"Demon's? Don't tell me you created a dark guild!" she cried out, Natsu raised a brow,

"Dark Guild? What's that?"

"A Dark Guild, is a guild that is not officially recognized by the magic council, they are treated as criminal organizations" Natsu shrugged, while Mystia gasped out,

"That doesn't sound good" she said turning to Natsu, "Master have you consulted the magic council about our guild?" Natsu waved her off,

"Of course not" he let out a chuckle, "do you really think the council would approve of us demons having a guild?"

"I suppose not" Mystia replied but she was obviously still a little worried,

"Don't worry Mystia, I will make sure the council won't bother us" Natsu reassured,

"If it's the Master then it is reassuring" she replied. During the two demon's exchanging words, Mavis sat in silence letting out a sad smile, she felt bad for them, she knew Natsu was right about the council, they would no doubt reject the existence of a guild of demons; and it warmed her heart knowing that they would stay together to fight against the odds. Mavis' eyes widened, she felt a sudden pulse stir within her,

"No..." she whispered, she knew what was about to come, Natsu's gaze turned to the girl, "run!" Mavis cried out as she stood up in panic. Mystia was a little surprised as she took a step towards Mavis,

"What's the matter Ms Vermillion?" she asked concerned, Mavis backed away, fear overtaking her features, she continued to back away but tripped as a rippled of black energy pulsated from Mavis. Seconds passed and Mavis opened her eyes, tears already seeping out of eyes; but much to her surprise both Natsu and Mystia were completely unharmed, granted all the trees around them had withered away and Mystia's food cart had decayed but the two were fine,

"H-how?" Mavis asked,

"I nullified it" Natsu responded, "I have a curse of my own, the curse of absolute destruction"

"That still doesn't explain how you stopped my curse" Mavis whispered,

"I would think that it explains it rather well" was his smug response, "let me put it this way, I have the ability to destroy anything and everything" Mavis sat completely stunned. Natsu stood up from his seat and approached the girl,

"Tell me; if I told you that I could teach you to control that power what would you do?"

"What do you mean?" Mavis whispered, Natsu knelt down,

"I can teach you to control that curse, don't let it become a weakness, let it become your strength" Mavis sat letting his words sink in, to be able to control this curse, to be able to walk amongst her friends once more, she would do anything to achieve that. She looked up into Natsu's eyes,

"Yes" she cried out, tears streaming down, "please... I don't want to kill anymore" Natsu smiled at her response,

"Good, that's what I like to hear" he turned to Mystia, "are you alright?" Mystia raised both her hands, shaking her head,

"I'm alright, but what about Ms Vermillion" Natsu turned to Mavis' crying form,

"She'll be alright, however I do want you to do me a favor" Mysstia nodded, "I want you to return back to the guild and send both Mard Geer and Wendy to find me at the usual place" Mystia nodded before turning and flying off. Natsu watched the Night Sparrow disappear into the distance before turning his attention back to Mavis,

"Come now, no more crying" he said, Mavis wiped her tears away and stood up,

"I-I just didn't think that there was a way to control it" she whispered, her mood brightening a little bit,

"To put it simply, to control the curse it to be able to once again control your body, in both spirit and mind" Natsu started explaining,

"What do you mean?" she asked,

"The curse has made its own entity inside your body, it wants to fight for control, it is your job to fight back and take control of it" Mavis looked at her hands in fear unsure as to what to do,

"Sounds easy enough right?" Natsu encouraged, but that didn't encourage Mavis one bit, in fact it made her start to doubt if this training would even work, "anyways" Natsu smirked causing Mavis to worry, "I think this will be a good opportunity to start our game"

"Game?" she asked,

"That's right" he pointed to her "you will be the first target, will you be able to maintain your humanity? Or will you fall and turn to becoming a demon?" Mavis' eyes widened, of course, how could she forget, she was still playing Natsu's sick game,

"This was all part of your plan isn't it" she stated, Natsu shrugged,

"Who knows, but you had better prepare yourself Mavis, for the game has now begun" Mavis glared at him clenching her fists, "anyways, follow me, it's time to begin your training"

"But I thought..." Natsu raised a brow,

"What? I told you I would help you control that curse, I intend to do so, while at the same time we play our game, sounds exciting doesn't it" he didn't wait for Mavis to respond as he started to make his way north towards the mountains. Mavis paused, weighing her options before taking a deep breath and followed him closely.


	3. Arc 1: Training begins

**Here is the next chapter for The Game of Life. And that chapter 465, wow, I've never been so disappointed with a manga before, completely destroyed the build up to E.N.D. I don't want to rant about it so I'll just leave it at that. But just to clarify in this story Natsu/E.N.D is the creator of Tartarus and in this story the creator of all the demon's currently in the guild.**

 **Hope you enjoy this chapter**

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Wendy Dragneel, younger sister of E.N.D and one of his strongest creations; even though she was over one hundred years old she possessed the body of a small child. She folded her arms in deep thought; next to her was Mard Geer another of E.N.D's creations, the two of them represented the Master's sword and shield; Wendy struck down the guilds enemies without mercy while Mard defended it no matter the cost. The two stood side by side in silence none sure as to why their Master had called for them to the caverns of truth, a place where one could find the truth within one's self.

"Good evening you two" E.N.D called out, the two immediately straitened up and gave their Master a bow. Their heads turned to Mavis who was lagging behind, Mard immediately recognized her as the girl who was playing his Master's game; he was a still confused as to why she was here though. Wendy however did not recognize her and was immediately suspicious

"Master... who is this?" she asked. Natsu glanced back to Mavis who was marveled by their current location.

"This is Mavis Vermillion, I'm fairly certain I have told you about her" he responded. Wendy glanced back to Mavis; that was right, her Master had mentioned her before and the significance of her existence; but upon meeting her she was not that impressed. She walked passed Natsu and approached Mavis, they were about the same height, so for Mavis she found it odd when Wendy made an attempt to stare down at her, but she was a little concerned as to why the girl was glaring at her.

"Hello?" she greeted.

"So you are the infamous Mavis Vermillion, Master E.N.D has spoken highly of you" Wendy said. Mavis raised a brow; she didn't exactly know what she did to receive such high praise.

"Thank you?" she responded unsure with herself. Natsu placed a hand on Wendy's shoulder.

"This is Wendy Dragneel" he introduced, "and this is Mard Geer; both are demon's like me" Mavis looked between the two nervously; the two of them gave off a similar feeling to Natsu, death and destruction.

"It is a pleasure to meet you two" she said. Mard stared blankly at Mavis, he really did not have any interest in the girl or her purpose, but Natsu seemed to show great interest in her and that alone was enough for him to at least acknowledge her presence.

"Master E.N.D" he called, Natsu turned to Mard, "you had Mystia tell us to meet you here, but she did not say for what reason".

"The reason why I called you two here is for insurance" was Natsu's answer.

"Insurance?" Wendy asked.

"Yes, because we are going to help Mavis control Ankherseram's Curse" Wendy raised a brow; he glanced to Natsu before looking back to Mavis. She now understood why her Master held such interest in the girl.

"Ankherseram's Curse? But Master what exactly do you want us to do?" she asked, Mard nodded seeing Wendy's confusion in the matter, even if they know about the curse, the two don't exactly know how it functions.

"I need you two to make sure Mavis here doesn't accidently destroy this establishment" Natsu answers. Mavis was quick to voice her concern "destroy this place? What exactly do you mean?"

"There is a good chance that you will go out of control with your power" he explained.

"You didn't say anything about this!" Mavis was beyond concerned, releasing killer waves is one thing, at least she was able to isolate herself from everyone so nobody could get hurt; but going out of control meant that she had absolutely no control over her actions.

"Of course, if I told you before we got here then you wouldn't have considered accepting my offer" he smiled, "but don't worry we're here to make sure none of that happens" Mavis did not look convinced, "It's either you live your life in fear of killing people, or take the chance of going out of control but being able to control your power" Mavis remained silent for a bit, but moments later she looked into Natsu's eyes.

"What do I have to do?" Natsu's smile widened.

"Excellent." he motioned for her to follow, "please enter the cavern and we shall begin." Each step Mavis took she could hear them echo in her ears, the cave was to put it bluntly, dull, with a name like Cavern of Truth it lacked any sort of wow factor to go along with it; there was nothing, just an empty hole. Mavis stopped, she had reached the end.

"Good! Now get yourself settled down" Natsu said, "We're going to be in here for a while".

"What exactly am I supposed to do?" Mavis asked.

"Meditate." was Natsu's simple reply.

"Meditate?" Mavis repeated, "How is meditating supposed to help me control this power?"

"That is where this cavern comes into play" He replied pointing up at the empty ceiling, "as you may have sensed; this cavern is laced with powerful magic. All you need to do is let go of your mind and the cavern will do the rest" Mavis stared a little skeptical but didn't question further, she could feel Wendy's glare at the back of her head. She sat cross legged, and closed her eyes. Minutes passed and she could feel her eye twitch.

"I can't do this with all three of you staring at me" she muttered.

"oh sorry." Natsu replied with a chuckle "we'll give you some room." she could hear their footsteps echo into the distance, she was now alone. She let her mind go blank and for a moment she could feel a rush of energy course through her body; she felt a little refreshed and normally her worries would continue to linger in her mind, but for some odd reason it was easier to let go of such thoughts. Minutes passed and now she felt a fresh breeze pass through her hair which was odd; she opened her eyes and much to her surprise she found herself in a grassy field. She stood up a looked around, it was nothing but endless fields of grass.

"So this is your consciousness." Natsu suddenly said from behind her; Mavis whipped around.

"My consciousness?" she asked, Natsu nodded.

"That's right. We've entered your inner mind, pretty cool right." Natsu got a good look around.

"I didn't expect my consciousness to be so... empty." Natsu shrugged.

"At least it isn't a sewer, now that would be unpleasant." Mavis nodded.

"Indeed." she turned to look at him, "now tell me what do I do from here?" Natsu held up three fingers.

"For you to master this curse you must first master your own self, your past, present and future" Natsu could tell that Mavis was a bit confused "don't worry, I will walk you through the stages one bit by bit."

"You say that but I still do not understand how this training works" Natsu paused trying to ponder his words, he turned back to Mavis.

"Let me put it this way, the curse feeds from your doubts and fears, by revisiting your past, confronting your present and controlling your future you can eliminate those doubts therefore weakening it and from there you will take over its power." He explained, Mavis pondered his words, she was still unsure how the curse functioned but she's come this far now might as well continue to follow Natsu's instructions. She sighed before sitting herself onto the ground.

"So how do we start?" Natsu waved his hands, a ring formed, expanding, opening up an empty void; he motioned for Mavis to step through, of course she was hesitant.

"Your first test will be conquering your past, step through and confront your greatest regret" Mavis swallowed hard she looked between Natsu and the dark void before stepping through; there was still some light emulating from the ring but it soon disappeared; spinning around Mavis was left alone.

"Natsu!" she cried out, she suddenly felt afraid.

"Don't worry I'm still with you" hearing his voice suddenly made the sudden tension disappear. The darkness shifted around morphing into a forest. Mavis' eyes widened, this was Tenrou Island.

* * *

Wendy perked up sensing something ominous in the distance; she turned to Mard who also sensed it but chose to ignore it.

"We have company, and by the presence it seems to be _him_ " she said, Mard nodded.

"Indeed, however one of us needs to watch over Master and the girl, you go greet our guest" he instructed. Wendy didn't say anything she merely stood up and walked towards the cave entrance. There was a wonderful breeze, Wendy let the wind blow through her hair but was suddenly disappointed when it subsided.

"I didn't think his majesty would go through the trouble of coming all the way here" she said while looking dead into the eyes of Zeref.

"I'm here to stop whatever Natsu is planning with Mavis" he said, this caused Wendy to raise a brow; it was unusual for Zeref to mingle in her Master's affairs, this only meant Mavis was actually dangerous to him and her Master intended to control her for that reason; or that is what she has come to believe, whether it was true or not was a different story.

"And why would you want to do that brother?" she asked, "Should I even call you brother?" Zeref glared at Wendy.

"No you may not, the only family I have is Natsu" he growled out.

"Good, we're in agreement then, I wouldn't want to call trash like you family anyways" she responded; Zeref ignored the insult and tried to walk past Wendy but the girl stepped in front of him.

"You still haven't answered my question" she said.

"I do not need to answer you, now step aside" Zeref answered.

"I don't think so" Zeref's glare darkened.

"Do you really think you can kill me?" he asked. Wendy laughed.

"Of course not, but I do know that I can defeat you" she struck first sending a blast of wind sending Zeref back creating distance between the two. Zeref immediately sent forth a barrage of dark energy. Wendy jumped to the side avoiding the explosion; she swept her hand in an arc sending a blade of air. Zeref ducked with the wind blade cutting down multiple trees, he was about to retaliate only to be taken by surprise with Wendy appearing right in front of him, she kicked him with powerful force sending him through a couple of trees. However Wendy was not allowing for the dark mage to get the chance for a counterattack; moving at full speed she appeared where Zeref was going to land kicking him up into the air, she followed him closely, grabbed him by the ankle and flung him down. Close behind Wendy dashed down, powerful air shimmered around her fist before she dealt a crushing punch into Zeref's stomach. The dark mage received the devastating blow causing him spit out blood. He gasped out attempting to shoot Wendy with dark energy but Wendy disappeared dodging the attack.

"You're strong" he gasped out struggling to stand up; Wendy didn't say anything, however she did sense multiple presences appear, surrounding them; she disappeared, reappearing in front of the cave entrance. There were eight of them, all relatively high level demons from the way she picked out their signature.

"Mard!" she called, her companion walked out from the cave and behind her, he let out a deep sigh.

"What is it" he asked, Wendy smiled to him walking deeper into the cave.

"Switch with me" sighing once more Mard stepped out, looking at the approaching opponents.

"Always leaving me to take out the trash" he cracked his knuckles, "though Mard Geer could use the exercise" smirking darkly he looked between the hulking demons, with the click of his fingers a massive vine shot out of the ground piercing one of them through the chest instantly destroying it. The other demons saw what happened to their companion immediately attacked Mard Geer, some shot powerful beams of energy from their mouths others threw large chunks of tree and rocks. Mard Geer raised his hand and pointed his finger upwards, multiple thorns shot up from the ground in a wide spread blocking the attack, defending himself and the cave. Upon impact there were multiple explosions, though the attack was terrifyingly strong it did not faze Mard Geer at all, rather he just continued to smirk. The sounds slowly subsided; the demons had stopped their assault. Mard Geer clicked his fingers once more, the wall rised further up before diving back down each vine easily striking the demon's through their vital points killing them all instantly. Mard Geer sighed once more, but this time out of boredom.

"It would seem that it wasn't even a warm up" he said. His eyes then locked onto the approaching dark mage.

"It would seem that I have greatly underestimated the power of my brothers demon's" Zeref said.

"And it would seem that Wendy has done much damage to you Zeref" Mard spoke with a hint of smugness. Zeref glared at his brothers demon before walking away from the cave; yes he did indeed underestimate their power; it was his loss, he needed to retreat now he had wasted enough time, he needed to return to his country; he had a empire to build after all.

* * *

 **Compared to their canon counterparts I've decided to make all the demon's (Mard Geer, Sayla, Kyouka, Jackal, etc) far more powerful, as in take on the world by themselves powerful. Main reason is because they will basically take the role that Gildarts has in the canon universe, the powerful mage that mentors the younger generation (basically only Canon!Natsu) but won't appear much. Also there will be a lot of OC characters that will fill the roles of the other demons in the guild just so you know.**


	4. Arc 1: The sisters

**New chapter after a couple of months. Sorry about that. This story is definitely still on going as I have a lot of plans for this story.  
Tell me what you think.**

* * *

Mavis was bewildered; Tenrou Island held many memories, some bad, and some good; honestly Mavis didn't remember much. She moved forward in search for her old home; nostalgia rushed through her, everything looked and felt so real, but she knew it was all fake; however, one thing did bother her though; the island was too quiet, normally she could hear the sound of the animals or at least the rustling of trees against the wind, but there was nothing. Finally making her way to her home, a small smile graced her lips; without hesitation she pushed open the door and walked inside, everything was as she remembered it.

"So this was your old home" she heard Natsu say. "Cozy" Mavis wasn't sure if it was sincere or sarcasm, regardless she rolled her eyes. Moving in she walked to the bookshelves glancing at all the books, she nodded, all of the book titles were there. She stopped a little unsure with herself.

"What exactly am I supposed to be doing?" she asked.

"Confront your past. There must have been something that's been haunting you" he explained. Mavis raised her brow sighing. There was a sudden sound of footsteps causing Mavis to quickly turn to the source.

"Zeria?" she called out. There stood Mavis' old friend, the girl who died here on Tenrou Island years ago.

"Hello Mavis." she smiled slowly approaching her. Mavis remained frozen staring shocked at the girl.

"Why are you here?" she asked, Zeria tiled her head in confusion.

"What do you mean? I live here" she responded, Mavis blinked before realizing what was going on. This world was her memory, meaning that everything here was a fragment of her past. So in some sense Zeria was speaking the truth, this was her home. "I should be asking _you_ why you are here."

"What do you mean?" Zeria rolled her eyes with a smile as if it were the most obvious thing.

"I mean why are _you_ here, in your consciousness?" eyes widened Mavis was unsure how to answer she didn't expect for Zeria to be fully aware of where she was; unless...

"To find my inner peace" she answered. Zeria giggled walking away while beckoning Mavis to follow. While turning a corner Mavis suddenly lost sight of her friend, she glanced around confused that Zeria was nowhere to be found.

"Where is she?" she whispered.

"Keep your eye's pealed Mavis" Natsu said; Mavis raised a brow, now concerned by his words.

"What do you mean by that?" she heard Natsu chuckle, she didn't know why but it irritated her.

"That girl, she's the key" was his answer.

"The key?" she repeated. "You can't possibly mean that Zeria is what is clouding my past."

"Exactly what I am saying; I'm guessing that you can't let go of her memory" he paused. "Could you tell me what happened?" Mavis paused before looking out the window.

"This island was the battle zone of a guild war. Zeria and I were caught in the crossfire; I survived, she did not..." she whispered; she expected Natsu to make a comment but was surprised when he remained silent for the most part.

"War... it's always war with you human's..." he muttered; Mavis was unsure what he meant by that but decided not to ask.

"Anyways; what should my next move be Natsu?"

"Look for Zeria first; and from there we'll see what happens" he said. Mavis nodded. Searching all over the house the emptiness was nerve wrecking and it didn't help that Zeria was nowhere to be found. Stepping outside did not help, the silence was even thicker. However just as she was about to walk into the forest she heard a loud explosion in the distance. Head whipping to the source she saw a cloud of smoke; moving closer she now heard multiple sounds of metal clanging against each other. Mavis was shocked to see that a battle had developed; peaking around a tree she tried to look amongst the battle for Zeria and hoped that she was not there; but her fears were true, there in the center of the battlefield was her friend strolling casually, oddly enough nobody had taken notice of her; she was walking towards the Tenrou Tree. Mavis made chase, trying to catch up to Zeria; she was however halted as a ball of fire was hurled in front of her; she moved around it only to be stopped by two mages who were trying to kill each other, they stood in her path. Irritated Mavis advanced to the other side and luckily the way was clear; looking around she tried to locate Zeria once more, however as she was moving she tripped and fell, looking up she looked into the eyes of a dead man, horror graced her features as she backed away, she stood up and turned around eyes widening as she watched a sword plunge through the chest of another man, he dropped dead. Mavis ran towards the Tenrou Tree, not wanting anymore to do with the battle.

"This is not your first time experiencing death" Natsu said. Mavis out of breath gritted her teeth.

"That doesn't mean that I have gotten used to it" Natsu chuckled.

"I never said you needed to. I was merely stating the fact." Mavis breathed slowly before standing straight her attention to the towering tree. Continuing to advance she was in deep thought; she didn't know what she was going to do once she met up with Zeria; was she supposed to just talk to her? Or was there something more to it. She paused, there was a sudden tremble causing her to stumble on her feet. She glanced around, there it was again. She was attempting to find the source. Then there was loud roar. Mavis recognized it, stricken with fear she could not move; looking behind her she saw what she feared, an undead dragon glaring down at her.

"Well, this is unexpected" Natsu said, his voice was hateful. The dragon raised its claw before swiping down at Mavis.

* * *

Eyes shooting open Mavis fell from her sitting position gasping for air, she was back inside the cave; she found herself sweating furiously, she needed fresh air. Standing outside she was a little surprised by the destruction of trees.

"We had an unwanted visitor" Wendy said approaching her and handed her a cup of water, Mavis accepted it with thanks.

"Who was it?" she asked.

"Zeref, apparently he had some business with you" Mavis' eyes widened, she did not expect for the dark wizard to be here let alone to see her. Wendy sighed. "That man really needs to mind his own business."

"What did he want?" Mavis asked, Wendy looked to her causing her to jump a little at the girl's stern look, she then looked back at the sky shrugging.

"Who knows" Mavis stared at Wendy observing her expression.

"You don't really like Zeref do you" she stated causing Wendy to let out a short laugh.

"Nobody from our guild likes Zeref. In fact we hate him and everyone who stands by him" Mavis was left speechless, she understood disliking one person, but for them to actively hate everyone associated to Zeref, it sounded a little extreme to her. She wanted to pry more into the matter but was interrupted.

"Good evening Wendy" a pink haired girl said as she approached, Wendy smiled.

"Satori, sorry that you were summoned here at such short notice" the girl shook her head.

"No need to apologize, it sounded urgent" she turned to Mavis. "It is a pleasure to meet you Mavis Vermillion, my name is Komeiji Satori of Tartarus" as Mavis got a closer look she noticed a red third eye positioned by her heart with cords running to her head and her wrists, but then she realized she never told the girl her name. Satori smiled.

"My Master has spoken your name many times; he speaks very highly of you" Mavis couldn't help but blush, but honestly what was there to say, they have only ever met twice. "That's because Master is very good at judging someone's character" Mavis paused, did she just...

"Just read your mind?" Satori finished, she smiled mischievously. "I am demon that can read minds" Mavis was stunned.

"Don't scare her Satori" Natsu said as he exited the cave.

"Master" she acknowledged. Natsu raised a brow.

"Where is your sister?" he asked; suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around his neck and a grey haired girl appeared on his back, she was wearing a black hat with a yellow ribbon around it and very much like Satori had a third eye by her heart except it was bluish purple with the cords wrapped around her torso and attached to her ankles however her third eye was sealed shut for some reason.

"So that is where you were Koishi" Satori called out. Koishi grinned before hopping back onto the ground and circled around Mavis.

"You are the one that we are going to help right?" she asked happily. Mavis wasn't sure how to respond, this was the first she's heard of this, she turned to Natsu hoping he could answer, which he did.

"That's right, as I told you two before Mavis is in the process of controlling Ankherseram's Curse however she seems to have run into some difficulties. I myself am not able to interact with her within her consciousness, so to put it bluntly I will need you two to act as her body guards while she completes her tasks" Koishi was the first to raise her hand.

"In compensation I want a year's worth of cheesecakes" Natsu cocked a brow, he knew Koishi was a big eater; in fact it was quite common for her to just waltz into people's houses and eat their food without them noticing. Truly the ability to manipulate the subconscious was a terrifying power. Knowing fully that he would go bankrupt he agreed, he needed her help after all.

"Sure. Just don't go overboard with your appetite" he said. Satori sighed rubbing her temples, knowing her sister, Koishi was going to do just that, she needed to protect her Master's wallet in some form.

"Don't worry Master, I'll be sure to make sure to keep her in line" she turned her attention back to Mavis. "In the mean time shall we begin?"

"Y-Yes, of course" Mavis replied; they all moved back into the cave. Natsu sat in front of Mavis who was situated in the center with Satori and Koishi sitting on opposite sides of her. Wendy and Mard stood by the cave entrance keeping watch for any intruders while maintaining their attention to Mavis' condition as well; though with the Komeiji sisters here they didn't think they would be needed.

* * *

Mavis was back inside her old house on Tenrou Island.

"Yoo-Hoo!" Koishi's voice startled Mavis. The two sisters were gazing about their surroundings, with Satori carefully observing the room, while Koishi was carefully trying to listen to her own echo.

"May I ask you two a question?" Mavis suddenly said.

"Of course, we'll try our best to answer" Satori replied. Mavis swallowed, she knew they were here to help her, but their third eye couldn't help but unnerve her by the way they stared at her.

"What exactly are your abilities that allow you to enter my mind so easily" Satori smiled as if she expected the question, but then again she could read Mavis' mind so she knew exactly what she was going to ask.

"As you may know my ability is to read the mind and heart of any living creature, but it also allows me to delve into their minds; my little sister Koishi however will be doing most of the work in protecting you, as the name states she has the ability to manipulate the subconscious, so she's the one who can actively protect you" before Mavis could comment there was a tremor. Mavis' eyes turned to fear, the skeleton dragon was approaching once more.

"Big sister, there's a big dragon coming this way!" Koishi cried out happily; Satori approached the window a small smile gracing her lips.

"Interesting, I see why Master requested our help, this will prove to be challenging" she turned back to Mavis and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "That dragon is a representation of your fear. If you wish to obtain peace with your past, you will need to overcome it"

"How?" Mavis asked, her eyes still glued to the approaching dragon. Satori continued to smile.

"That is for you to figure out".

* * *

Mard stood by Natsu carefully observing him; he was worried for his Master, when Natsu had left Mavis' mind he could tell that Natsu was distressed and nothing normally caused such emotion from him except for one thing; Dragon's. Natsu hated dragon's, that much is known by every member of their guild; in fact Mard would even go and say that his Master had full grown hatred for them. He looked over to Wendy and could tell that she noticed their Master's distress as well.

"Dragon's; who could have known that this girl had encountered one in her life" she whispered. Mard shook his head.

"Mard Geer does not think she encountered a living Dragon, either an illusion or a reanimation of one" Wendy raised a brow in question.

"What makes you say that?"

"Remember, Master had wiped out the entire Dragon race during the war" Wendy however didn't look convinced.

"That may be true, but who's to say that there may have been one or two who survived"

"Like Acnologia?" Mard asked, not really sure where she was going with this.

"Not him, I wouldn't consider him a proper Dragon anyways. The one I'm talking about is Igneel"

"The Fire Dragon King?" Mard repeated; Wendy nodded.

"I remember every Dragon that was killed on that day, and he was not amongst them"

"Then are you saying that the Dragon this girl saw was Igneel?" Wendy shook her head.

"No I'm just saying that it is very possible that this girl had encountered a real life Dragon; but who know's, you could be right; you know how Master is with Dragon's" Mard sighed.

"Indeed I do; after what they did to him? What they did to us? I can understand his hatred for them" Wendy looked down cast at the thought of their past, she looked to Natsu before looking back at Mard.

"If we were to ever encounter a Dragon, what do you suppose will happen?" she asked. Mard's eyes looked stern and answered as if it were the only possible answer.

"We will kill it" Wendy nodded in agreement, but that wasn't the answer she was looking for.

"No, I mean, what do you think Master will do?" Mard paused, he wasn't exactly sure how their Master would react; for both Wendy and himself, they will eliminate any threat that would ever pose to their Master and Guild. Natsu would no doubt do the same, but to a greater extent, they wouldn't be surprised if an entire country would go missing during his rampage. Mard sighed and shrugged.

"We must try our best to keep our Master's head cooled" Wendy had no doubts there.


	5. Arc 1: Zeria

**And a new chapter. Like I said before there will be many Touhou characters that will appear in this story but won't be the major characters, those are still reserved for the main Fairy Tail cast. Satori and Koishi are such characters, so unless by popular demand, they probably won't appear for a while after this arc. Tell me what you think**

* * *

Leaping out of her old house as it was being crushed was the last thing Mavis thought she would be doing. Stumbling back onto her feat she started running again, she looked to her left and casually flying next to her was Satori with a humored expression, to her right was Koishi who looked like she was having the time of her life.

"Can't you do something to stop it?" she cried in gasps.

"We certainly can, however we would prefer if you took the lead" Satori replied. Glancing back at the approaching Dragon caused Mavis to almost freeze in fear again however it was Natsu's voice that broke her out of her trance.

"You should try attack it head on, remember this is your mind, you're free to do as you please" his advice caused her to stop, conjuring up a large salamander equal in size as the skeleton Dragon and sent it for the attack. The Dragon in response easily swiped it away with its sharp claws before launching its attack. Eyes shut tight Mavis braced for the attack but was surprised that none had come, peaking open her eye she found that a large stone hand had blocked the attack; turning around she saw Koishi holding her hand high.

"Just so you know Koishi is only able to accomplish such feats because she is inside your mind. Remember she can manipulate the subconscious meaning she can manipulate this world" Satori explained. "Though if I'd have to compare, my sister's ability is far more terrifying in the real world" Mavis didn't really know what to say only that she was glad that she had people like them to assist her.

"Yeah..." Natsu started. "I really don't think illusions are going to work here; the Dragon's mindless, it won't be swayed by them" Mavis agreed, but she only had two offensive spells and they both weren't really practical right now.

"Then I suppose Ms Vermillion that you use your illusions as a distraction while my sister brings it down" Satori suggested, clearly having read Mavis' mind. There was suddenly a barrage of water that pelted the Dragon, though it wasn't causing it any serious harm, Mavis could tell that the pellets were chipping away parts of the Dragon's bone.

"Oh? That's a new one Koishi, where did you learn that one?" Satori asked.

"Re-chan taught me a couple of weeks ago" Koishi responded, her voice still laced with glee. Mavis wanted to ask who she was talking about but decided now was not the right time; conjuring up another salamander along with two wyvern's; the salamander circled around while the two wyvern's took to the sky, and as intended the Dragon followed their movement's closely taking occasional jabs at them. Koishi took this chance and created a spike of stone to appear beneath the Dragon piercing it and keeping it place. The Dragon let out an ear piercing roar; Satori raised a brow with great interest.

"Curious" she whispered.

"What is it?" Natsu asked.

"I can hear a voice coming from the Dragon, a girl's to be exact" Mavis having heard this looked at the Dragon; could it be Zeria? Dispersing the illusions she ran towards the Dragon as it continued to flay around trying to free itself from the pike.

"Hey! Don't act so reckless!" Satori called out.

"Let her be" Natus said. "She knows what she must do, it would be best for us to try and provide the necessary support until she can accomplish it" Satori shrugged before speaking again.

"By the way Master, what exactly is this game you are playing with her?" Natsu wasn't really surprised by the question; in fact he was expecting someone like Satori to ask about it soon.

"We are playing a small game of conquest. Who can influence human's to their respective side more, demonification for us and humanification for Mavis; first to ten win's. Interesting don't you think?"

"Indeed it is, however we have a slight advantage don't you think"

"Oh? You think so?" he asked her genuinely interested in what Satori had to say, she nodded.

"After all, the human heart is filled with impurities" Natsu laughed.

"True, true, however this is what makes it interesting; Mavis, who is probably one of the few who possess a pure heart. I want to see how she goes about maintaining that purity" Satori smiled, a little impressed.

"To think that you could tell that she had a pure heart without my ability, you truly are good at judging someone's character" Natsu just laughed.

* * *

Mavis running straight for the Dragon was not without worries. If it really was Zeria's voice then she could only pray for her safety. She moved in closer.

"Zeria!" she screamed the name causing the Dragon to halt its movements before turning to her.

"Mavis?" and there it was, though the voice was not vocal, rather she heard her name spoken to her almost telepathically. "Please help me Mavis..."

"Zeria! Tell me what's wrong?" she was getting closer, but there was no response. In fact Satori who's eyes widened in realization when she heard a sinister laugh come from it screamed out.

"Koishi! Stop that thing!" the Dragon at blinding speeds attempted to clamp its jaw down on Mavis. But just before it made contact a stone fist punched the Dragon's head away, Mavis who stumbled off her feet could only stare stunned at what just happened.

"Natsu Dragneel! How irritating that you would be here" Zeria's voice echoed from the Dragon's head.

"Zeria? What are you talking about?" Mavis asked.

"That isn't Zeria" Natsu told her. "But honestly Ankherseram, is taking control of a girl the best you've got these days?" Natsu sighed. "Oh how the great have fallen these days"

"And who would have thought that you of all people would help such a pathetic child." the voice was now distorted, it was a mix of Zeria's own and another.

"What did you do with Zeria?" Mavis demanded. Ankherseram laughed, the Dragon head turning to Mavis.

"What do you mean? Zeria was never alive to begin with" was its response. "She is nothing but a distant memory" Mavis glared at the Dragon.

"Yes, but she is my memory and I will not let you take her away" Ankherseram continued to laugh, the Dragon head floating before reattaching itself to its body.

"Hmm, I can see your resolve" it said before laughing once more. "Then come and show me how much you want to save her" eyes widened Mavis jumped to the side barely avoiding its claw. She knew her illusions would not be of help here. The more she thought about how to fight Ankherseram the more irritated she became. However a thought came over her when she looked at Satori who was smiling at her.

"Are you able to transfer my mind into the Dragon's?" she asked.

"I was waiting for you to ask" she replied. "Yes, I can, but once you're inside, you will be confronting Ankherseram itself" Mavis' eyes narrowed, her hands clenched, she was filled with determination.

"I'm ready to do what I must" nodding Satori turned to Koishi.

"Keep the Dragon busy while we do our work!" Koishi nodded in acknowledgement. Satori attention back to Mavis placed a hand on her forehead, her third eye floating up and looking at the Dragon. For Mavis the world suddenly went dark and when she opened her eyes once more she found herself in an empty void.

"Zeria!" she called but there was no answer. She looked around some more before noticing a strange blue glow coming from the distance. She approached it.

"Mavis..." she heard Zeria's voice. "You shouldn't be here!"

"What are you talking about! I've come to save you!" there was no answer, but the blue glow grew brighter, almost calling out to Mavis to get closer.

"You can't... I've been absorbed into Ankherseram, from here I can at least stop its influence over you" Mavis shook her head.

"I won't allow it! You've already saved me plenty of times! I will not allow you to sacrifice yourself again!" Mavis ran towards the glow. "I will be the one to protect you this time!" And within inches of the glow a massive scaled claw shot out and grabbed Mavis lifting her into the air. A loud maniacal laugh echoed in the darkness.

"So this is what drives you! Guilt!" the distorted voice of Ankherseram spoke again. "You wish to protect this memory because you feel guilty, how selfish"

"You're wrong!" Mavis screamed. "My drive to protect Zeria is because she is a precious friend!" a pair of green glowing eyes appeared before Mavis' eyes.

"Friend? Your past relationship with her could hardly be called friendship. Rather you created her to satisfy your thirst for companionship; disgusting." a goat like head formed "And don't forget your sin for playing god, do you think that saving Yuri Dreyar who was already marked for death was heroic? What makes you think that it would be fair to give one person life when many others had to face death without question?" Mavis paused, she couldn't answer; rather she didn't know how to answer. While at the same time she could feel a sense of coldness rise up her body.

"Enough!" Zeria called out from below, "I will not allow you to harm her any further!" Ankherseram stared down at Zeria and grinned.

"And the fake appears" Zeria glared harshly at the creature.

"I may be a fake but I still hold some of the real Zeria's essence" she turned her attention to Mavis, looking her in the eyes. "And I know that if the real Zeria was still alive she would have loved you like a sister; so do not lose faith Mavis, I know that everything you've been doing was from the kindness of your heart" Ankherseram lowered down eyes now focused on Zeria.

"Do you really think your words will change anything, this girl is fated to be doomed for damnation" but Zeria ignored it.

"Mavis you're stronger than this, I know you can overcome it" she continued to tell Mavis.

"But I can't..." Mavis mustered out.

"Don't you dare say you can't! I know you! You will do everything in your power to overcome any difficulty, you will try your best to help people in there need, I know that you would save anybody even if they were not your friend. So everything this thing says is nothing but lies, only to fault your heart! So stay strong!" Mavis regained some color in her face and Ankherseram noticed this, it raised a second claw swiping Zeria away. Mavis' eyes widened as she watched her friend get thrown aside. And then something within her cracked before bursting open.

Natsu from the outside watched the skeleton Dragon stumble before sensing a powerful magical energy radiating from Mavis' body, he smiled mischievously. Everything was going according to his plan. Satori who was observing everything that was happening inside the Dragon's head could only raise a brow a little concerned by what was going to happen next, but judging by her Master's silence, this was something that he expected to happen.

Breaking free from Ankherseram's grasp Mavis was able to create some distance between them, and as if something was telling her what to do, she conjured up two swords before dashing towards the creature. Ankherseram roared but Mavis was not intimidated rather she created two massive stone golems that tackled Ankherseram from both sides pinning it, the creature was able to free one of its claws but before it could attack the golem, Mavis jumped up and with both her swords decapitated its entire arm; there was no blood however, rather a trail of white smoke left the wound.

"Impossible!" Ankherseram screamed. Mavis didn't say anything; she proceeded to conjure up a large rhino that she sent ramming into the creature, its tusk rammed into the creature through the chest. Ankherseram over time, was able to overpower the two golems flinging them away before holding the rhino down, but that gave Mavis the necessary chance to jump off the back of the rhino and plunge both swords into Ankherseram's skull.

"What! This can't be happening" the creature gasped out; Mavis jumped away and dispersed all her creations. Ankherseram screamed out in pain trying to contain its wound.  
"You stupid human! I won't allow for this! I the great Ankherseram will not be defeated by the likes of you!" The creature was slowly disappearing while screaming out in anger. Mavis looked around for Zeria's body and from the corner of her eye saw her slowly getting up; rushing to her side she inspected her injuries and was glad that there was nothing too severe.

"Are you alright?" she asked her. Zeria shook her head.

"I should be fine" she chuckled. "See I told you, you could do it" Mavis chuckled; she was glad that things had finally calmed down.

"Did you honestly think it was that easy?" Ankherseram's distorted voice suddenly echoed. Zeria's eyes widened when she saw a sharp claw approach Mavis' back. With the remainder of her strength she pushed Mavis away only for the claw to plunge through herself.

"Zeria!" Mavis screamed.

"Hmm, this works too" Ankherseram said before finally disappearing, the darkness faded. Mavis' eyes shot open and found herself back on Tenrou Island she looked around frantically, there was no Dragon but she did find what remains of it; Zeria. She ran to her side.

"Zeria!" Mavis cried, the girl turned to face her with a weak smile.

"What's with those tears?" she asked reaching up to wipe them away. "I told you didn't I. I wasn't going to let Ankherseram have you"

"Why? Why save me?" Mavis asked. Zeria let out a small laugh.

"Idiot, if you die, what do you think will happen to me?" she spoke the truth of course, if Mavis was to perish herself then Zeria her creation would perish along with her. "If I can at least save you, then I am content." Mavis as if realizing something gave her a weak smile.

"I can save you right? This is my mind; I can save you from this" Zeria shook her head.

"Ankherseram has taken away my essence, without it I will cease to exist in your mind; soon I will become a true memory"

"No... this can't be happening" Mavis whimpered. Zeria placed a hand on Mavis' cheek.

"Promise me one thing Mavis" she said, Mavis nodded furiously while tearing up. "Promise me that whatever is to happen from here on out, that the choices you make are from the bottom of your heart. Be true to yourself and be happy" Mavis nodded and Zeria smiled. "Good" she turned to look at the sky. "And Natsu was it?"

"Oh?" was the reply. "You know of me?"

"Not exactly but I heard Ankherseram curse your name a couple of times" Zeria responded.

"Is that right... So what is it you want from me?" Natsu asked.

"Watch over Mavis for me?" he chuckled.

"I'll do what I can" was his response.

"Thank You" she turned back to Mavis. "This is good bye then Mavis. I'm glad to have been able to call you my friend, I will always love you" her last words before disappearing. Mavis sat in utter silence. The Komeiji sisters stood a distance away allowing for the girl to mourn in silence. Minutes passed and the silence was as thick as ever, before Natsu decided to speak.

"Mavis... What do you intend to do now?" Mavis stood up when she turned around she gave the sisters a look of determination.

"I am going to stop Ankherseram, I will not allow it to do as it pleases". Natsu smiled approvingly; things were finally getting interesting.


	6. Arc 1: Fearful of the Present

**I have an important Authors note at the very end, so make sure to read it.**

* * *

Back in the grass fields Mavis was still overwhelmed by what had happened; but she couldn't afford to be held back anymore, she needed to honor Zeria's memory and overcome this obstacle. Another ring had formed welcoming Mavis to enter.

"You did good overcoming your past" Natsu said. "It is now time for you to confront your present"

"My present... what do I have to do?" she questioned. It was Satori who answered.

"Basically you must confront your inner fears" Mavis raised a brow.

"Okay... I can kind of understand" she wasn't too what she would encounter but she was sure she would understand once she actually walks through the ring. She turned to Satori.

"So how does my future play into this?"

"In time you must be in the position to accept what you will become" she explained. "Will you become a servant of evil? Or a hero of justice, it is probably the simplest of the three encounters" Mavis was now a little afraid of what she would expect. She looked to the portal and stepped inside, Satori and Koishi following close behind. It was total darkness, just like last time.

"I wonder where we will end up this time" Natsu voiced. There was a blinding light before everybody found themselves in Magnolia.

"Interesting, this is the place where your guild is situated is it not?" Natsu questioned. Mavis didn't say anything but she nodded. There was sudden scream, everyone turned to the source and saw a woman run towards them. Mavis' eyes widened; it was Yuri's wife, Rita. Chasing her were two shadow like creatures. Mavis was first to jump into action, using the power she learnt; she created two stone spikes behind Rita which pierced the creatures.

"Are you alright Rita?" she asked running to her; the woman looked up at her stunned.

"Mavis? What are you doing here?" she asked; her questions immediately set off alarms for Mavis.

"Rita was it?" Natsu said. Rita looked around unsure where the voice was coming from. "What was the last thing you remember before coming here?" Rita was hesitant to answer, she looked to Mavis, who gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, the one speaking is with me" Rita nodded but was still a little hesitant.

"I-I had just given birth... to a baby boy... and then the next thing I knew I was here" Mavis' eyes widened, she turned to Satori, who had a knowing expression.

"How long have you been here?" Natsu continued to ask. Rita shook her head.

"I don't know, Days? Maybe weeks" she answered, she was on the brink of tears, she really had no idea what was going on.

"I think I may know what is going on" he said. "It is as you suspected Mavis, she is not one of your memories" he started noticing Mavis' expression. "Rather Rita here is a soul trapped in your mind"

"It's the curse isn't it".

"Correct" was all Natsu needed to say. Mavis grit her teeth and clenched her fists. "When your curse took Rita's life, you took her soul and stored it in your body"

"I don't understand... how is Mavis related to this? And what do you mean it killed me?" Rita asked.

"Has Yuri ever mentioned a curse that was placed on me?" Mavis asked her; Rita stood pondering for a moment before nodding.

"Yes, it's what stopped you from aging, but what does it have to do with this?"

"I'm afraid everything. The curse... you see..." Mavis was having trouble picking her words. "My curse killed you after you gave birth to Makarov, and for some reason it took your soul and stored it within me. You are in my mind right now" Rita's eyes widened trying to digest the information. "I'm sorry Rita... I know I am in no position to ask for your forgiveness..." Rita shook her head and gave Mavis a small smile.

"There is nothing to be sorry for, it wasn't your fault"

"But I took everything from you, your chance to watch your son grow up, to see Yuri again, to spend time with your family. I took it all away from you, how can you be okay with this?"

"Like I said, it wasn't your fault, it was the curses fault"

"She is right you know" Natsu said, "Before all this, you had no control of the curse, which is why you are going through this training"

"Training?" Rita asked.

"I'm learning how to control the curse, so that I don't take anymore lives" Rita smiled at Mavis' response.

"See, you're already trying to fix it" she took Mavis' hand. "So stop it with the gloomy face, there is nothing to apologize for" Mavis sighed caving in and gave Rita a small smile who nodded satisfied. "By the way how long ago was this?"

"A year..." Mavis answered. Rita was genuinely shocked

"But it felt so much shorter" she said.

"I'm afraid that time progresses differently here" Satori voiced out. Rita finally noticed the other two approached them to introduce herself.

"Sorry I didn't notice you here, my name is Rita Dreyar"

"A pleasure, my name is Komeiji Satori and this is my little sister Koishi" Satori greeted with Koishi giving her an energetic wave.

"What did you mean time progresses differently?" Satori smiled at the question.

"Think of it like when you are dreaming. In a dream time passes by quickly but when you wake up, it turns out hours have already gone by. It is the same concept here"

"I see, and this is Mavis' mind?" Satori nodded.

"Correct" her eyes narrowed however. "But onto more important matters, those shadow creatures chasing you; do you know what they were?"

"No, this was the first time I've seen them. In fact they appeared only moments ago" Satori had a suspicion and Mavis noticed this.

"You don't suppose it's Ankherseram interfering do you?"

"It is a possibility" Satori looked behind her and saw another group of shadow creatures approach at a fast pace. "But I think we should get to somewhere safe first" Mavis nodded she grabbed Rita and carried her bridal style.

"Before you ask Rita, I honestly have no idea how I'm doing this" before Rita could ask, Mavis leaped on top of the buildings and started running at insane speeds, Satori and Koishi flying behind her.

"Where are we going" Koishi asked.

"To my guild, it should be safe there" Mavis halted into a stop when a massive shadowy hand rose up in front of her. The hand smashed the building they were on before lifting its body up revealing a massive bull creature. Jumping out of the way Mavis and Rita found themselves caught trapped between two large boulders with the beast looming over them. Not backing down Mavis commanded the rocks, turning them into golems; they attacked the bull with hard punches. With the beast distracted Mavis carried Rita away from the fight.

"Are you sure that the guild will be a safe place?" Rita asked watching the large beast slowly dismember the golems.

"No, but it's at least safer than out here" she answered while jumping up onto the roofs again. She heard a flock of birds approach, peeking behind, her eyes widened when the birds were in fact also shadow beasts bee lining straight for them. Not being able to react fast enough Mavis turned to try and shield Rita from the attack, but they hit some sort of force field.

"I got them!" Koishi called from afar, she had set up a barrier around the duo. Mavis shouted her thanks before making her way to the guild.

Inside the guild hall was as they expected, empty. Mavis shut the doors behind her letting out a sigh of relief, they were safe for now.

"I think I might have come to a conclusion" Satori said. Mavis looked to her waiting for her to continue. "Those creatures were created by you Mavis"

"Impossible, I would never create things like them" she argued. Satori raised a hand calming her.

"Let me finish" Mavis stayed quiet. "With you being cursed, these creatures were created by your mind as a form of self defense against intruders"

"So how do we defeat them?"

"Well... I'm not too sure" was her answer, which actually surprised Mavis, since Satori seemed like the person who always had an answer to everything it was odd to see her unsure about something.

"We've got trouble!" Rita screamed out while peaking out the window. Just outside, the shadow bull was slowly approaching with an army of unrecognizable creatures at its feet. Koishi peeked outside, her expression unreadable, which once again was strange for Mavis, since meeting the younger sister, she's always been so happy go lucky.

"Wow, there are a lot of them this time" she said, her voiced was amused, added with her lifeless eyes; it made the younger Komeiji sister incredibly scary.

"Mavis please set up a barrier around the building; hold it up until I can figure something out." nodding she conjured up what looked like a reinforced glass dome around the guild. Moments later they could hear a rumble as the guild shook.

"You're holding them off..." Rita told Mavis while watching the shadow bull pound against the surface of the shield.

"It won't hold long though" Mavis whispered while feeling the durability of the dome chip away bit by bit. "What exactly are you trying to figure out?" Satori had her eyes closed, concentrating; her third eye widening as it floated in front of her left eye. Seconds past and she was suddenly thrown across the guild into the bar.

"Big Sister!" Koishi was immediately by Satori's side. Mavis and Rita close behind.

"I'm alright..." she gasped out.

"What happened?" Mavis asked. Satori was sweating.

"I was going through the minds of the creatures; however something attacked me the moment I delved deeper" there was another rumble. "They are all connected by a single mind" she stood up. "But it is as I predicted, there is another _you_ around here" Mavis narrowed her eyes; if there was another her running around she was no doubt corrupted by the curse.

"What would happen if we were to destroy this other me? Would it cause me any harm?" she asked.

"No" it was Natsu who answered. "The truth is, there shouldn't be another you here. It is unusual, but I think that your present and future have merged together creating this world"

"Master; could it be because Mavis' future is _that_ uncertain?" Satori asked.

"Possibly, but I cannot be certain. Mavis will need to face this other her head on by herself if she has any hopes of stopping those creatures" Mavis nodded, she looked outside a plan formulating in her head. She turned to the others.

"Rita, Satori I need you two to go hide in the basement; Koishi please do your best to make sure no other creature get's to them" Koishi nodded with a playful salute. Rita looked worried.

"What are you planning?" she asked.

"I will take down the barrier and lure as many of them away from here. I have a plan to lessen their numbers but I will need to do it alone"

"That's too dangerous!" Rita protested, however Natsu interjected.

"It may be dangerous, but it is something that she must accomplish alone" not convinced Rita wanted to say more.

"It is as Natsu says, I must do this alone; otherwise I will never be able to take control of this curse" Rita sighed, she was still against this but she remained quiet. "Now move to the basement, it won't be long before they break through" nodding Rita guided Satori behind the bar and to the guilds underground storage space.

"Koishi, are you ready? When I release the barrier, I will lead them away but I have no doubts that a few might still linger behind"

"You got it!" she replied with a smile. Mavis took in a deep breath, she waited for the barrier to take another hit before releasing it and immediately dashing through the doors to confront the shadow creatures.

* * *

 **I've decided to put Rita into the story, however I would like your guys opinion. Would you guys like me to keep her in the story or just have her for this arc. I have plans on what to do with her for both. I will make my decision on majority vote.**


	7. Arc 1: Fearful of the Future

**New Chapter! Finally back in the game with this story; sorry for the long delay on this.**

* * *

Running right past the creatures she could feel their eyes on her as they started to make chase. Not looking back she jumped onto the roofs just managing to dodge a flame attack, she eyed the unusual black flames before turning back to what was in front of her. She was successful in guiding the shadow creatures away from the guild; her main priority being to take down the bull creature. She managed to lead them to the edge of Magnolia; Mavis halted to a stop, turning around and immediately began her counterattack. Breaking from the ground was a large serpent that wrapped itself around the bull biting into its neck. Ignoring all the other lesser creatures Mavis jumped onto her summoned serpent and climbed up forming a sword, she stabbed the bull in the head. The bull let out an ominous silent roar before shaking its head widely trying to fling Mavis off, but the strong grip of the serpent was keeping it at bay long enough for Mavis to grip her weapon and plunge the blade deeper into the monsters skull. The struggling stopped and the creature hit the ground dead, dissolving into nothingness. With the bull defeated Mavis landed back onto the ground with the serpent coiling around her defensively.

"You certainly learnt how to use your new power fast" Natsu commented. "I'd almost say I'm a little jealous" Mavis raised a brow; his voice was laced with a mixture of sincerity and sarcasm, which one he meant she honestly did not know. She peeked out looking at her surroundings, the number of monsters were growing; wherever the source was, she needed to stop it as soon as possible. Mavis commanded the serpent to sweep the ground clearing the area by flinging monsters away. Raising her hand she rained down waves of javelins piercing them. Jumping onto the roofs she glanced down at the scene, even more worried than she was before.

"They just keep on multiplying..." she mumbled. Natsu laughed which annoyed her.

"You should try wiping them out in one go"

"How is that going to help?" she exclaimed. "The moment I destroy one of them, two more pop up" she could almost see Natsu shrug at her.

"But don't you just want to see all those enemies get thrown around with your awesome power?" Mavis remained silent but face faulted at Natsu's absurd comment; she wanted to retort with a sarcastic comment but held back, she was starting to realize that spending time with Natsu has already influenced her way of speaking.

She looked at her serpent rampaging around, flinging monsters with its tail; however it was only seconds later did it stop moving, Mavis stared at it wondering what was wrong.

"Ah..." Natsu started. "The curtains finally rise"

"What do you mean?" Mavis questioned, but there was no need for an answer, the serpent just burst into a cloud of magical energy. The shadow creatures all stopped moving and the area below started to clear up. Mavis hopped down, the creatures backing away as she approached.

"Greetings" she heard, looking up her eyes widened as she stared at herself. "You look surprised" Mavis didn't respond immediately.

"You're the future me?" she questioned. The other Mavis tilted her head with a smirk.

"Good, at least I don't need to introduce myself; though to make things a little less confusing, you may call me Vermillion" Mavis was wary, there was an ominous aura emitting from Vermillion and she didn't like it; something far more evil than Ankhseram.

"What's the matter?" Vermillion asked. Mavis stepped back not answering; however the other her continued to move closer. "Surprised by what you will become?" she chuckled. "I would be surprised as well. To know that you will one day become this powerful" Mavis glared at her.

"That power is evil" the other her shrugged.

"I prefer the term evolution. You will no longer be the weak person you are now, you will evolve past the weak humans, you will grow to become the most powerful being in existence; even stronger than E.N.D" Mavis heard Natsu's muffled laugh obviously humored at the idea that she would become stronger than him. The other Mavis noticed her glare.

"You don't seem pleased... why?" she asked.

"You called human's weak; that is something I would never say" she was right, even with everything that has happened to her, she loved all life and would never demean them; Vermillion laughed.

"I once thought that, but you will soon realize that humans are nothing but trash" she moved closer. From a distance Mavis couldn't tell, but now with Vermillion close up she noticed that the future her was indeed taller and looked more mature than her current self.

"Ha! The future you is interesting" Natsu said. The other Mavis paused looking around.

"Natsu Dragneel" she called to the sky, a wide smile starting to form. "To think that the mighty demon himself would be here"

"Ha! No need for compliments. I am more intrigued by this transformation" he said.

"Oh?" Vermillion smiled. "Is that approval I hear?" Natsu laughed.

"Who knows; why don't you show me what you are capable of?" Mavis perked, not really liking what Natsu was implying; she turned to look at the other her and saw her smiling.

"Yes. Why don't I show you what your future holds" Mavis summoning a sword was quick to block Vermillion's attack, however the impact was so powerful that it threw her a few blocks down crashing into a wall. Completely dazed Mavis crawled out writhing in pain, surprisingly however the pain was quick to subside; standing up she looked up watching Vermillion casually walk towards her. Quickly moving away Mavis conjured a spike of rock sending it towards her but it was instantly destroyed. Vermillion appeared in front of her grabbing her by the neck and lifted Mavis off the ground.

"I am a little disappointed" she said. "I would have expected the present me to put up a decent fight" Mavis struggling to breathe could not answer.

"I think you should give her a fair chance; it is quite obvious that she in inexperienced" Natsu said. The other Mavis pondered before dropping her and stepping back.

"Very well, I'll allow you three chances to attack. After that..." she paused forming a sinister smile. "Well you should know what happens after that" Mavis staggered back onto her feet.

"Don't take me lightly" she growled; the other her laughed.

"Oh I know what you are capable of. I am you after all" eyes narrowed, Mavis sent out a wave of fire that engulfed the other her, nothing, as if an invisible shield was protecting her.

"That's one" Stepping back she surrounded Vermillion with stone spikes before sending them striking the shield, they all shattered instantly.

"That's two" finally she created an energy sword made from pure magic and swung it against the shield, much to her surprise her sword did not break still retaining its shape.

"That's three" without a moments noticed Mavis was thrown into a wall by some mysterious force.

"Honestly I'm still disappointed, not even a scratch" Mavis grunting smiled which surprised Vermillion. "What are you smiling about?" she questioned.

"You can't possibly be my future self if you didn't realize what I was doing"

"Oh? Enlighten me" Mavis responded by chuckling and standing up.

"Not going to say" she formed another energy sword before charging in; she thrust her blade forward and as she predicted, it made a dent in her shield. Vermillion jumped back laughing.

"I see, you were testing the capabilities of my defense" Mavis pivoted on her heal and swung her blade against the shield once more, another dent. However Vermilllion wasn't going to allow Mavis to do as she pleased, catching Mavis' hand before her sword could hit, she spun her around and threw her across some buildings. Crash landing Mavis was quick to recover; she gritted her teeth before making her way to the ground. She needed a new approach; at her current strength, she would have no chance against the other her.

"Oh my, running away are you? How unsightly" Natsu commented.

"What I'm doing is called a tactical retreat. There is no sense in fighting against an enemy clearly out of my league without a plan" Mavis responded, though she felt something was wrong but just couldn't place it on what. She made her way down a flight of stairs into the back alley of the city.

"That future me... what is she?" she asked.

"What do you mean? She's the future you" Natsu answered.

"No, not that. There is more to this than you are telling me" Natsu remained silent, eager to listen to what Mavis had to say. "It is as if she is only one half of the whole".

"Ding, ding, ding!" Natsu exclaimed. "We have a winner!" Mavis stared into the sky, not amused. "You assume correctly Mavis; that other you, is but a possibility of what your future holds".

"Then what about the other half? What about the other possibility?" Mavis asked; however much to her displeasure the wall next to her exploded throwing her off her feet.

"My, my, there is no running away" Vermillion said walking through the hole. "If you're afraid, all you need to do is say it and I will let you go free" Mavis glared at her.

"Liar; letting me go is the last thing you want to do" the other her smiled stepping closer.

"I guess you caught me there" Vermillion moved in close to Mavis' face. "I suppose I will just go ahead and do what I must" thrusting a hand into Mavis' chest she poured all the evil energy into her. Mavis was gasping for air, the pain she was feeling was unbearable. Mavis knew that this was it; she would be corrupted by the evil and become Ankhseram's slave. However something was fighting back, she could feel a light within her forming; cracking open an eye she saw a third presence; unlike Vermillion this person was filled with light. The mysterious woman had gripped a hold of Vermillion's wrist pulling her hand out of Mavis.

"Look what we have here" Vermillion said staring into the eyes of a third Mavis. Natsu who was observing the scene couldn't help but smirk.

"So, the second half has appeared" he whispered to himself. Indeed, the third Mavis was a representation of all the good and justice in her heart, a future where she becomes the hero. Mavis could only stare between the two women, not knowing what to do. She however was feeling very weak, almost like she could fall out of consciousness in any second.

"Be banished like the demon you are" the third Mavis said to Vermillion who responded with a laugh.

"Oh, how despicable of me" she replied with sarcasm. "Why don't you force me into banishment" the third Mavis glared at her dark self before throwing her back through the hole and through a few buildings before chasing after her. Mavis could only watch as she drifted into deep slumber.

* * *

Wendy and Mard Geer noticed something off going with Mavis' meditating form; it prompted Wendy to cast a protective barrier around her Master and her two guild mates. A mixture of dark and light energy started spewing from the girl; both Wendy and Mard got into a fighting stance ready to take on whatever is to come. Mavis' eyes suddenly shot open and the energy burst out throwing the two demons off their feet. Mavis stood up getting a good look around.

"This is new" Wendy whispered.

"It would seem this is the reason why Master requested us as damage control" Mard commented; much to his surprise however, Mavis immediately pounced onto him, throwing him into a wall; he felt her choking him and tried to pry her hands away, but Mavis' grip was surprisingly strong. Luckily Wendy came to his rescue tackling her off him. The two girls wrestled each other down, with Mavis trying to claw Wendy's eyes out. Mard recovered and summoned vines to strike Mavis; Wendy noticing this kicked her into a wall throwing Mavis off balance allowing the vines to wrap around her sealing away her movement.

"What ever happened, it seems it turned her into a wild animal" Wendy said through gasps. Mard nodded doing his best to maintain his hold on the girl. However he noticed an unusual amount of energy gather from within the girl; eyes widening he threw Mavis out of the cave just in time for the large amount of energy to explode destroying the vines, trees and ground.

"And what ever happened, just made our job a lot harder" Wendy added watching Mavis observing her own hands; unusual markings started forming as it consumed the right side of her body.

"It would seem that there is an internal conflict going on inside that girls head" Mard realized, his eyes turning to his Master then back to Mavis. "With Master still connected to her mind, killing her will trap the Master in her mind forever"

"So what do you suppose we do?" Wendy asked. Mard smirked.

"Beat her down into submission" Wendy chuckled.

"There's the sadism I haven't seen in a while" she said. The two approached Mavis, the mixture of energy wrapped around her; They were hesitant to attack without knowing what that energy was; but they needed to act. The two struck her down; Wendy sent out waves of sharp wind only for the attack to phase away and get absorbed into the girl; the same thing happened when Mard Geer summoned his plants to wrap around her; the vines crumbled away and its magic energy absorbed. They had to take a new approach; this time hand to hand combat; sadly it was something Wendy struggled with.

"Mard, I leave the fighting to you; I will support you from afar" she told her partner. Mard nodded suddenly feeling a burst of energy flowing through him; he looked back to Wendy who had enchanted him with her magic. He moved in close, with incredible speed striking Mavis in the stomach; he was caught off guard however when his attack did nothing, rather he felt his strength being zapped away. Mard had to separate himself from Mavis moving quickly he stood next to Wendy; he looked to his partner who nodded in confirmation; even physical strength was being absorbed. Wendy circled around sending out simple gusts of wind and as she guessed they were all absorbed. She signaled to Mard who nodded; the two simultaneously sent out a magic attack; Wendy another gust of wind and Mard with a simple thorn attack. Much to their delight only one of the two spells was absorbed. Mard's thorn spell being more lethal was absorbed by Mavis, while the gust of wind threw her off her feet.

"It would seem that she is only capable of absorbing one type of magic at a time" Mard said; he smiled summoning a bed of different plants; with the click of his fingers the plants shot out beams of fire, ice, wind and lightning. The bombardment forced Mavis to counter attack; she glared at the two and with a single sweep of her hand a shockwave of energy deflected the attack and threw the two demons away. Wendy struggled to her feet.

"This is going to be harder than we anticipated".

* * *

Mavis once again found herself in a different area. She looked around identifying it as a village that was burnt down. She looked up and noticed it was snowing. The village was void of any life and ruins everywhere, nothing was left standing; or so she thought; she heard a faint cry in the distance; she was quick to follow the voice. Making her way through the numerous fallen houses she came to a stop; her eyes widening at the scene; a little boy, probably around the age of ten sat cradling a little girl in his arms. The boy looked all too familiar to her, with his pink hair and sharp eyes; this was Natsu Dragneel; the girl also looked familiar, resembling Wendy Dragneel. The young Natsu was crying and didn't seem to have noticed her; Wendy however was unmoving and lay lifeless in the boys arms.

"Welcome Mavis" a familiar voice said from behind. Mavis swirled around coming face to face with E.N.D. Mavis looked back down at the crying boy.

"What is this place?" she asked; for once Natsu didn't reply with any sort of sarcasm, laugh or general mocking comments.

"It would seem that you have entered my memories".


	8. Arc 1: To be Determined

**As usual, tell me what you think?**

* * *

"Your memories?" Mavis questioned; she looked around; in all honesty this snowy wasteland was not what she expected. She looked at the young Natsu before realizing that there were more bodies littered around; she gasped in horror when she understood that she was standing in the aftermath of a warzone. "Natsu... you were the only survivor" she whispered, but there was no response; glancing around she found herself alone; only young Natsu in her presence. Leaving the child alone, Mavis went to survey the area. Hours past and Mavis did not like what she found; heart clenched as she bit her lip; the residents in this village were all innocent people, only unfortunate bystanders that were caught up in a war. Mavis returned to Natsu to find the boy carrying the dead girl in his arms; he walked deeper into the village. Mavis wanted to follow but found that the world around her shifted.

* * *

She now stood in the midst of a battlefield; thousands and thousands of dead soldiers lay littered; Mavis covered her mouth silently gasping, she spotted Natsu, on his knees struggling to stand up. This time he was older; looking to be in his early twenties; he was dressed in worn out steel plating. She spotted another man but she could tell he had only just entered the scene.

"Zeref..." she heard Natsu call out. She got a better look and it was indeed the Dark Mage himself. "Why? Why did you do this?" Natsu screamed, tears were streaming down his cheeks. "We trusted you! And you sent us to our deaths!" Zeref was staring at his brother with little to no emotion.

"The whole purpose of this was to show you, little brother; despair. It was to force you to hate me" Natsu glared at him clenching his fist. "Your hatred will become your strength and you will become powerful enough to kill me" Mavis stepped back not believing what she was hearing; she could see Natsu respond with rage but could not hear his words. The scene once again changed.

* * *

She was in a prison cell; Natsu was kneeling against the bars pleading to the guards outside. She could see him grit his teeth and attempt to force the bars open.  
"It wasn't me!" he screamed. "It was Zeref! He was the one who led us there! He was the one who betrayed us! I swear!" but the guards were not listening.

"Be quiet!" one of them said. "Nothing you say will save you; you have already been sentenced to death. You will be executed tomorrow at noon" Natsu's eyes widened as did Mavis. Natsu slowly backed away against the wall.

"Why won't you believe me?" He whispered. Mavis wanted to comfort him but as she got closer, the further away he became; and soon the world just shattered, opening up a new scene.

* * *

It was a dark desolated place; somewhere she did not recognize; she looked up to find a massive swirling hole in the sky. She went to explore in search for Natsu; she found him, but he stood in front of a massive monster with a goat head; she recognized it; Ankhseram.

"Welcome Natsu Dragneel" it said. "Welcome to the land of the dead" Mavis stood stunned, that would mean Natsu was indeed executed that day. She heard Ankhseram laugh, while looking closer at Natsu; the man did not look afraid, nor did he look concerned, rather it was like he no longer cared. "Your brother betrayed you, your friends and family are all dead and the human's have abandoned you; tell me Natsu Dragneel, what have you achieved in your life?" Natsu didn't respond. Ankhseram decided to answer for him "Nothing; your life is worthless. But what if I told you that I could give you purpose" that prompted Natsu to glare at the god.

"Purpose? The only purpose I have in my life is to kill Zeref!" Ankhseram let out a booming laugh.

"Then let me make you a deal; become my new champion and I will grant you power to kill your brother" Mavis could only watch in horror as Natsu slowly stood up looking up at the god, his eyes glowing with hatred. Natsu nodded his head.

* * *

The scene changed and there was a sudden explosion; Mavis was startled and fell off her feet looking up at Ankhseram's enraged form.

"Natsu Dragneel!" it screamed. Natsu was standing amongst the bodies of hundreds of demons; the man smirked up at the god.

"How dare you betray me" Ankhseram was missing a few limbs; Natsu chuckled shaking his head.

"Betrayal means there was trust; I however, never trusted you" he told the god.

"We had an agreement! I was the one who granted you that power! And this is how you repay me?" Natsu frowned.

"I'm afraid you are mistaken Ankhseram; but you never gave me this power; this power was mine from the very beginning, I merely used you to achieve control over it. The power you attempted to give me, I rejected it; I knew that once I accepted, you would have full control over me" Natsu looked at all the bodies before looking up at the hole in the sky. "You tried to use me to destroy the human race" Natsu smirked again. "I'm afraid I cannot let you do that" Natsu started laughing; a sound Mavis was all too familiar with. "For now; I believe it is time for me to leave" he held up a glowing green stone. "Oh and thank you for the gift" with that Natsu was gone.

* * *

Mavis reappeared in a dark workshop, books lay everywhere; she recognized them; they were all of Natsu's demon creations. She watched as the man walked towards a single book in the middle of a magic circle; he pulled out the green stoned and whispered to it.

"Sayla" Mavis guessed it was some sort of name. The stone glowed before a single ball of light floated out of it and into the book, the magic circle glowed before a bright light blinded her; as it subsided Mavis peaked open her eyes to find a naked woman laying in the middle. She recognized her as one of the few demons that appeared when she first met Natsu. She had golden horns on her head, other than that, she was relatively normal. Natsu quickly removed his coat and covered the waking woman.

"Sayla..." he whispered. The woman opened her eyes.

"Natsu?" she whispered in shock. Tears started forming as Natsu knelt down giving the woman a hug; the woman was a little surprised by the action. "But how?" she questioned but Natsu didn't answer, he could only hug tighter. Sayla paused before letting out a warm smile hugging him back, stroking the back of his hair "It's alright now" she whispered. Mavis was a little stunned; granted it was a heartwarming scene but this was Natsu; the most fearsome and most irritating person she has ever encountered and he was crying his heart out. Mavis looked closer, she recognized the woman and it wasn't her demon form that looked familiar; she could have sworn she saw a human version of her. It took her a while but she soon realized where; Sayla was one of the victims that died in the village; at that was when everything fell into place for her; Mavis finally understood Natsu's joy. There was a blinding light and once again Mavis blacked out.

* * *

Wendy and Mard Geer were having a lot of trouble keeping the rampaging Mavis at bay; no matter what they tried, Mavis would always have something up her sleeve to counter it. However, at this point both demons have memorized Mavis' attack patterns and can anticipate the girl's next move. Mard avoided a beam of dark energy before delivering a kick to Mavis' stomach; the girl writhed in pain and lashed out; Mard stepped back clear of the attack allowing Wendy to come up from behind to use her wind magic to cut a deep gash on her back. There was a distorted scream before Mavis turned around sending shockwaves at Wendy; the young demoness was able to shield herself with a wind wall but the terrain around her was not as fortunate.

"I never would have imagined her to become this powerful" Wendy muttered; she heard Mard chuckle next to her.

"Believe me Wendy when I say that she will become stronger" his smile widening. "I now understand why Master has taken such a liking to her" Wendy rolled her eyes, she may understand, but she still felt that the girl was inadequate to have taken her Masters interest. Running forward a miniature whirlwind formed in Wendy's palm; Mavis saw her coming and sent out a beam of light energy; however Wendy disappeared allowing the beam to barrel towards Mard. A plant sprouted in front of Mard Geer; the bud opened up absorbing Mavis' attack. Wendy appeared behind Mavis once more, slamming the whirlwind into her backside; the attack was absorbed, but the affect was still able to cause Mavis to spin around wildly right towards Mard who had his plant ready and aiming; the plant returned the absorbed attack; a beam of light shot out impacting against Mavis caused an explosion. As the smoke cleared away, they saw the girl standing in the center of the crater looking angrier than before. Wendy sighed voicing the opinion they both had for the situation.

"This is becoming an annoyance".

* * *

Opening her eyes Mavis was back in Magnolia; she sat up from the rubble, her back aching.

"Finally awake" Natsu said; Mavis didn't respond, she was too deep in thought. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" he asked. Mavis raised a brow; it would seem that Natsu was not aware she was swimming around in his memories "Hmm, you look like you saw something you shouldn't have" he chuckled. "Come on, tell me". What she saw; the pain, the betrayal; it was as if Natsu's feelings were connected to her; she has never felt this much hatred for a single person before; these feelings were foreign to her; she has never out right hated someone before, and she believed that her sudden hatred for Zeref was influenced by Natsu's own. She could also feel his happiness; it was the joy of reuniting with family; this emotion was something she could relate to; Fairy Tail's creation had given her the family she never had, it was joy that she could never forget. These emotions that flooded her; it may have been overwhelming but it allowed her to finally understand what motivated Natsu.

A current of wind found its way towards Mavis bringing her back into reality; she forgot that there was a fight going on. Running out of the alley she looked up at the sky to find two Mavis' clashing; one was surrounded with dark energy, the other light energy; they were both emanating enormous power.

"There you have it; the two sides of your future" Natsu announced. "What will you do now? Will you accept the dark and conquer the humans or will you embrace the light and vanquish the demons?" Mavis didn't answer, or in fact she couldn't answer. Ignoring Natsu she moved in closer; she could hear the two of them talk.

"Tell me. Are you proud of what you've become?" Vermillion asked her other self. The woman didn't smile nor did she reveal any sort of emotion.

"I am the one who vanquishes evil like you; I am the one who maintains peace to this world" Vermillion laughed maniacally.

"Oh this is grand. You actually believe yourself to be a hero of justice?"

"No; I believe in maintaining order and peace"

"And how do you plan to achieve that?"

"Like I said, by exterminating all demon's in this world"

"My, my, you sound even worse than I am" Vermillion commented. Mavis had to agree with her dark self; she didn't like the way her light self was thinking; by her logic, it would mean eliminating all demons regardless if they were good or bad. Her thoughts trailed to Mystia, the young demoness that worked in her food kart; hurting her was the last thing she wanted, especially she has been nothing but kind to her. She then thought of Natsu and the identity of all his demons; they were innocent people who were given a second chance and to her knowledge the demons have not yet done anything wrong in Fiore. Both light and dark Mavis' reverted to fighting, each attack sending powerful shockwaves that shattered windows and toppled buildings. Mavis was having trouble keeping her footing, her arms held to her face shielding herself from the overwhelming force. As it subsided Mavis looked up; her heart clenching with doubt. Neither side sounded appealing to her; on one side it was to exterminate all human's; the other, exterminating all demons regardless of alignment. She heard Natsu laughing.

"This is just too funny. So tell me Mavis, who do you agree with?" Mavis who actually had given it much thought, answered immediately.

"I reject both ideals" nobody could see it but Natsu was smirking; everything was going according to plan. He could feel a powerful magic energy form from within Mavis; it was a mixture of both light and dark. "I Reject You Both!" she screamed catching the attention of the two Mavis'; they stopped their bout and looked at her.

"Reject us both?" Vermillion repeated as if the idea was unheard of.

"You would side with demons?" the other questioned. Mavis glared up at the two.

"The two of you are trying to play god; you don't care about the lives of others, you only care about yourselves!" she screamed. Her thoughts turned to Natsu's memories and it was at that moment she felt something build up within her; determination. During the time she's been here, she has always been fearful and doubtful of what her future holds; she did not know what she would become; in fact she still did not know; but she did know one thing; she wasn't about to let some curse control her life; if she was going to live on; it was going to be on her own terms.

"And what of it? You will have power beyond your imagination; the power to protect and destroy everything in your path" Vermillion exclaimed; however the third Mavis snorted.

"Your protection is delusional; you embrace the demons, protect those monsters and exterminate humanity" however Vermillion wasn't backing down.

"And you exterminate Demons; you are no different"

"The difference is that demons are evil"

"Humans are the same"

"Silence!" Mavis screamed. She turned to Vermillion "I will never turn against the humans" then turning to the third. "And I will never turn against the demons" Her eyes becoming determined as she hammered in the final nail. "I will become a person of both worlds. I will carve my own future where humans and demons can live in peace" Both Mavis' burst into laughter.

"Humans and demons can never co-exist" Vermillion exclaimed. Mavis however was not disheartened she summoned two energy swords in her hands; she pointed one at them.

"Then I will prove it to you; I will prove my resolve by defeating you both".


	9. Arc 1: Mavis' Resolve

Mavis stared the two down, her grip on her blades tightened; it seemed like hours have passed and still no movement. When suddenly a titanic knight burst into reality holding a massive sword. The knight swung its blade at the two but was stopped by two equally intimidating titanic knights; one demonic, the other angelic. The three knights clashed their blades and upon impact sent ripples of shockwaves across the entire city. Mavis jumped into action; hopping onto her knight's arm she climbed onto the shoulder giving her enough height to finally engage her targets. As Mavis swung her sword both her light and dark self summoned their own weapons and returned an attack with equal force; but unlike before, Mavis was able to stand her ground. Parrying both blades, Mavis slipped past them and jumped onto the demon knight's blade, her opponent's following close behind. Getting her footing, Mavis dodged a beam of light before jumping back avoiding a dark wave. She proceeded to lunge forward managing to nick the side of Vermillion's hair. The demon knight raised its sword throwing Mavis off balance; she leaped off, landing on the shoulder of the angelic knight. The three titans continued to clash their swords, all doing their best to defeat the other and instate their position as the dominating force for their master.

Mavis stepped away from Vermillion's attack, only for the dark being to be kicked away by Mavis' light self who then attempted to stab Mavis through the heart. Luckily Mavis was quick enough to raise her energy blade to block it, but in the process, caused her to trip; she fell off the titan's shoulder, landing onto the swinging blade of the angelic knight. She quickly got up and started running down the blade towards the handle and onto its hand.

* * *

Rita could feel the rumbling, the sound of explosions and the sound of swords clashing; she turned to Satori who was sitting in the corner keeping an eye on her sister Koishi; she didn't look at all worried.

"That is because there is nothing to worry about, Ms. Rita" Satori said startling her. "From what I am reading, Mavis has stated her resolve, I am confident that she will be able to overcome this obstacle" Rita stared at her confused.

"How did you understand what I was thinking?"

"I am capable of reading minds" she grinned. "You are skeptical; believe me when I say that I have no reason to lie; every thought, every memory you have ever had is within my reach" at this point Rita was doing her best to blank out her mind, a little afraid of the elder Komeiji sister; Satori giggled.

"Don't worry, as long as you do not give me a reason to do so, I won't dig deep" Rita let out a breath of relief but was still a little concerned.

"So I am assuming you can tell what Mavis is doing right now?" she asked, Satori nodded.

"She is currently battling two of her selves" Rita looked confused. "The purpose of this training is for Mavis to master herself, she needs to retake control of her own mind and body. In this scenario; her future is split between two possibilities, a future where she fights for humans and a future where she fights for demons. Right now, she has rejected both possibilities and hopes to create a third path, to do so she will need to defeat both futures"

"And what happens if she loses?" Satori looked grim.

"I'm afraid she will lose herself in a rampage" Rita gasped, clasping her hands together prayed for Mavis' safety. There was a loud banging noise on the cellar door. Rita backed away.

"It would seem that those creatures have found their way through the barrier" Satori stated, though she wasn't worried; she turned to Koishi, who jumped up and made her way to the door.

"Who is it?" she called; she got scratching and more banging in response. Crossing her arms, Koishi shook her head, displeased. "How rude" she patted down her dress and grabbed the door knob. Satori upon seeing what her sister was doing pulled Rita further back. Opening the door Koishi was greeted with a swarm of shadow creatures, all staring hungrily at her.

"When people ask you a question; it is only polite to answer back" of course the creatures didn't reply, instead they bared their fangs. "And it's only polite to let people finish talking" taking a step back into the guild hall, she glanced over the hundreds of creatures surrounding her. Before any of them could attack, they all exploded; black goop rained down, Koishi rushed back inside the basement, wiping away the stains on her clothes. She smiled at her sister who stared at her with an eyebrow raised. Koishi knew what her sister was thinking and answered.

"Flan-chan was showing me some of her powers the other day" Satori sighed rubbing her temples.

"As long as you two were careful; I guess I have no complaints" she turned to Rita who was shaken by the scene. "As you can see, our guild has some very colorful individuals" Rita didn't say anything. Satori turned back to her sister. "Koishi, could you go out there and make sure no more of those things come through?" Koishi gave her sister the thumbs up while dancing out the door.

The young Komeiji was prancing around rooftops while dodging the creatures attacks. She saw the three titans fight and couldn't help be awed by their size.

"I can't wait to tell Re-chan and Flan-chan about this!"

* * *

Mavis was running alongside the angelic knight's blade while avoiding lasers fired by her light self. She knew her two futures were still hostile against each other; she needed to find a way to exploit that hatred. With all the attacks she was dodging, a thought did came to mind; she vaulted in the direction of her dark self, in the process the lasers hit Vermillion. Mavis recovered safely by landing on the shoulder of her own knight; turning around she watched her two selves fight. Her knight ducked under the angelic knights attack and sliced the angelic knight in half. With the two occupied Mavis summoned forth a lightning bolt from the sky, striking the two down. Mavis hopped onto the fallen angel knight and ran up its crumbling arm; once close enough she stabbed her light self through the chest.

"You fool" her clone gasped out. "You have doomed yourself..." Mavis however narrowed her eyes.

"No; I am freeing myself" she responded. Her light self burst into particles of light, which Mavis absorbed into her body. She could feel a powerful energy swirl within and an unusual emptiness of emotion. Without a second thought she turned around deflecting Vermillion's dark beam; the powerful attack instead struck the demonic knight in the head, blowing a hole on the side of its face.

"Fascinating; you absorb the power of the ones you've defeated" a curious grin forming on Vermillion's lips. "I wonder, what would happen if I were to absorb your essence" Mavis grinned back and challenged her.

"Why don't you try and find out" Vermillion burst into laughter.

"Oh, I'm starting to like you now". Mavis ran away while Vermillion gave chase, she could see the bloodlust, the hatred and the cruelty. Mavis now understood why she disagreed with both light and dark sides; neither held any emotion of love, compassion, joy or hope. They were nothing more than an empty shell, void of anything positive; they were the ones she had always dreaded to become. Parrying Vermillion's sword, Mavis stepped to the side dodging a follow up attack. In the distance she watched her own knight approach. The demonic knight conjured up a shield, using it to bash away Mavis' knight before cutting the knights arm off. With Vermillion being so aggressive, Mavis allowed herself to be pushed back; before their swords locked.

"Despite that power up, you are still lacking in strength" Vermillion said with a large amount of smugness that Mavis couldn't help but scoff to.

"You've become so reliant on power that you have forgotten the most important thing to combat" she responded; Vermillion looked amused.

"Oh? And what is that?"

"Outsmarting the enemy!" Mavis called as she swept her leg knocking Vermillion off her feet before jumping away; at the same time her knight swung its sword cutting right into the arm of the opposing titan and right on top of Vermillion.

Stumbling onto safe territory, Mavis perched on her knights shoulder, she didn't let her guard down; the two titans continued to struggle against each other which caused her eyes to narrow with concern; she stepped closer to the edge looking down at the rubble where Vermillion fell. With the opposing knight still active she knew Vermillion was still alive. There was a sudden chill as the entire city went cold; Vermillion burst out and appeared right in front of Mavis; she grabbed the Fairy Tail mage by the collar and flung her straight into the demon knight's arm. Mavis skid across the surface; eyes widening as she rolled to the side; Vermillion had sent a breath of fire at her, managing to graze Mavis' sides. But Vermillion wasn't letting up, launching another wave of attacks, she forced Mavis to conjure up a magic shield as waves and waves of magic bullets impacted against it.

The demonic knight shoulder charged into its opponent; the impact caused Mavis to lose her footing; she fell and Vermillion's magic bolts hit her in the stomach and left arm. Crashing through a roof she screamed in pain, a piece of wood piercing her leg. She grabbed her bleeding stomach and took deep breaths before grabbing the shrapnel; with one swift stroke, she yanked it out; she muffled her screams while her body started to heal itself.

"She's gone on a rampage..." Mavis whispered.

"You got that right" Natsu responded. "Be wary of a rampaging demon; they are quite difficult to tame" Mavis took note of his words and was already formulating a plan. Her thoughts interrupted when the wall behind her collapsed, Mavis swerved around ready to face whatever was coming but only to find Koishi run towards her.

"Yoohoo!" the young Komeiji greeted. She grabbed Mavis' hand and pulled her into a sprint.

"What's going on?" Mavis asked, Koishi giggled.

"I may have attracted some unwanted attention" Mavis peered behind her and saw a horde of shadow creatures chasing them.

"What about your sister and Rita?"

"They are still inside the guild basement" she started running towards the knights "But these creatures were barging in so I had to redirect them" she smiled happily. "How have you been?" Mavis couldn't help but envy her carefree nature.

"I've been dealing with that thing" she pointed to the demonic knight. "Do you think you can help me?" Koishi nodded eagerly.

"Sounds fun" Mavis raised a brow, fun was the last thing she would describe the situation, she adjusted her plan; with Koishi's involvement, the probability of success increased. But first they needed to get rid of the shadow creatures chasing them.

"Did you round them all up?" she asked, Koishi nodded.

"Yep" Mavis stopped and turned. Gathering light magic into her hands, she slammed it onto the ground; a fissure of light erupted from beneath all the shadow creatures vaporizing them all.

"Fascinating" she whispered to herself; the power she absorbed, opened up new possibilities to her abilities; but something felt off, like she only held one half of her potential power. She turned back to the knights before facing Koishi.

"Stay hidden and when I give you the signal, I want you to do your best to destroy the ground beneath the demon looking knight" Koishi saluted.

"Roger" the young demon ran off leaving Mavis to run back towards Vermillion.

* * *

Standing on the shoulder of her knight, Mavis started her counterattack; locating the whereabouts of Vermillion, the dark being was standing on top of the head of the demon knight. Mavis sent a disk of light flying at her, it was blocked by a shield.

"She set up the energy shield around her again" but luckily, Mavis knew the extent of its capabilities, she fired up her energy blade. When the two knights reengaged; the two mages did the same, leaping at each other in the air. Vermillion punched Mavis with an empowered fist, but missed; Mavis was able to predict its trajectory and moved to the side allowing Vermillion to fly right by her. The two landed on the demon knight's sword; Vermillion continued throwing out many powerful but sluggish punches, making it easy for Mavis to dodge them; by the fifth attack; Mavis tripped Vermillion and stabbed into the barrier, immediately shattering it. Vermillion kicked Mavis away, following up by raining magic bolts; Mavis was quick, meeting the attack with her own magic bullets. As they continued their onslaught, Vermillion threw out a whip catching Mavis' ankle and pulled her closer; however this was a mistake; it brought Mavis close enough to knock Vermillion across the jaw. Both now on the ground, Mavis rolled over, avoiding the knights massive sword. Once the blades parted Mavis prepared herself, anticipating an attack; she grabbed Vermillion's punch and started swinging her around before slamming her into the ground; there was a crack.

Vermillion started radiating power; Mavis backed away, create as much distance as possible when suddenly, out of nowhere two demonic hands grabbed hold of her. Mavis struggled against the grip and could feel herself get torn apart. Vermillion started laughing maniacally.

"I'm going to enjoy tearing you to pieces, bit by bit"

"Don't think I will make it easy for you" Vermillion snorted.

"You are trapped, you have nowhere to go and you're still trying to act tough" but it was Mavis' turn to laugh, shaking her head she stared at her other self with pity.

"All that power has truly caused you to forget all about tactics and strategy" Vermillion narrowed her eyes trying to figure out what Mavis was saying.

"Koishi, do it Now!" Mavis screamed. The ground collapsed as an explosion blew off the demonic knight's legs at the very same time Mavis' knight swung its sword in an uppercut, completely shattering the demonic knight's sword. Vermillion staggered, in the process releasing Mavis from her grasp; the Fairy Tail mage used this chance to tackle Vermillion down, free falling in the air.

Falling Mavis created a grappling hook, tossing it she attached it to one of the large shrapnel's of the broken sword and with a yank launched it at Vermillion; it plunged straight through her chest. They crashed, Mavis feeling sore all over was trying to get her bearings; she stumbled out of the rubble, searching for her dark self; she heard a cough and moved to the source.

"You... certainly proved to be... more capable than I anticipated" Vermillion gasped out, she was drowning in her own blood. It was a horrific sight but Mavis stayed silent. "But it looks like you win" Vermillion breathed out her last words before disappearing; dark magic swirled around being absorbed into Mavis.

The girl let out a sigh of relief; it was finally over. However before she could do anything else, a powerful surge of magic flowed through her, the sudden jolt was too much and she started to lose consciousness; the last thing she heard was Rita screaming her name.

"Mavis!"


	10. Arc 1: The Rules have Changed

**And finally with this chapter we wrap up the first arc! I will admit, this one was shaky for me to write; but fret not! As it will not happen again! (Hopefully).**

* * *

It has been a long time since Mavis had felt the softness of a bed and the warmth of bed sheets; she almost forgot what it felt like. She was staring at a white ceiling and was confused as to how she ended up where she was; she sat up trying to remember what had happened; flashes of her battle came to mind and she could feel dark and light magic swirl in her. She decided to test it out; she sat in silence, waiting a few minutes, doing everything in her power to trigger it and much to her delight, she did not release any death magic; a very wide smile formed on her lips, as she started to become giddy and was about to jump out of bed and start dancing with joy before she noticed there was another presence in the room; sitting next to her in fact.

"Good morning" the woman greeted, she looked normal except for the two golden horns on the side of her head. "I'm glad to see you are awake". Mavis turned red with embarrassment, she had honestly thought she was alone in the room and was ready to do some celebrating; she even realized how close she was to killing another person due to her carelessness. She composed herself.

"You are Sayla, correct?" Mavis recognized the woman from Natsu's memories.

"That's right, but if I may ask, how do you know my name?" Mavis didn't respond immediately; she wasn't sure if telling the demon she found out by invading their Master's memories was a good idea.

"Natsu told me about you" she replied, but she could tell that Sayla was skeptical.

"Is that right..." Mavis was getting nervous, but was thankful when Sayla decided to change the subject. "Anyways, how are you feeling?"

"Great, in fact better than great, I feel fantastic" Mavis replied; Sayla giggled at her antics.

"Aren't you the adorable one" Mavis blushed at her comment. The demon stood up reaching out to her with her hand. "Come let's get you properly fed" Mavis did admit, her stomach was growling.

"By the way, where am I?"

"My house" Sayla replied. Mavis was actually quite surprised; she felt guilty for thinking it, but she actually expected a demon's home to be more... intimidating; this home was, normal, too normal in fact.

Upon entering the dining room, Mavis was met with Wendy and Mard Geer sitting at the table covered in bandages, they sat quietly drinking a bowl of soup. Wendy was the first to notice Mavis enter.

"Look who decided to finally wake up" she announced. "Sleep well?" Mavis took a seat opposite Wendy. The Fairy Tail mage looked nervous staring into the young demon's eyes; Mavis was aware that Wendy didn't like her and by the look of her eyes she could tell something must have happened to deepen that dislike.

"Wendy" Sayla said sternly "Be nice" upon hearing the older demon, Wendy's dark glint disappeared.

"It was refreshing?" Mavis tried to be friendly but with Wendy rolling her eyes, it didn't seem to work.

"You certainly had it better than us" Wendy said while pointing to both herself and Mard Geer; the male demon chose to ignore them and focus on his food. "Luckily as demon's we have high durability otherwise you would have gone off and killed a lot of people" Mavis looked horrified.

"What do you mean?" she asked, Wendy pointed to her bandages.

"While you were running around in your dreamscape, your real body became possessed and was causing havoc out in the forest, Mard and I had to subjugate you; and it wasn't easy, considering it was an ongoing fight that lasted twenty years" Mavis choked on the water she was drinking.

"What do you mean twenty years?"

"You were in your dreamscape for twenty years" Wendy clarified. Mavis still couldn't believe what she was hearing; this had to be some sort of joke.

"What about you two, how were you two able to last that long fighting?"

"We took shifts; Mard took the mornings and afternoons. I took nights; over time we got used to fighting you and it became our daily routine" Mavis was stunned and still couldn't believe that these two fought for twenty years; it was pretty amazing. Wendy noticed the gleam in Mavis' eyes and immediately wanted to clear up any misunderstanding.

"Don't get the wrong idea; we contained your rampage because you could have hurt our Guildmates and Master; had it been anybody else, we would have left you alone" though from Mavis' point of view it made it seem like Wendy was simply making excuses. She suddenly heard footsteps and much to her surprise Rita had come running into the room.

"Mavis! You're awake!" she cried out.

"Rita?" Mavis exclaimed. "You're alive?" Rita looking as if she never died in the first place, gave her a big hug.

"Yes, I am not too sure about the details but Master E.N.D was able to bring me back"

"Wait, what about your body, the one that is buried at the cemetery in Magnolia?" Rita chuckled nervously looking away awkwardly.

"We may have gone grave digging..." she mumbled but Mavis heard her.

"What! You mean this is your actual body?" Rita nodded. It was Sayla who decided to explain the situation.

"Natsu managed to extract Rita's soul from within you, however to properly bring her back we needed her body; any other body would have rejected her and creating an artificial body would take too much time; so we dug her up. Though not unexpected, her body was rotting, but it wasn't something we couldn't fix" Sayla approached the table placing a bowl of noodles in front of Mavis. It wasn't that Mavis was not glad her friend had come back to life; it was just the thought they had to desecrate a grave to do it, even if it did belong to Rita.

"So..." Mavis trying to find the right words "You are basically a zombie" Rita shrugged her shoulders.

"In a way, yes" she responded, "Though I feel normal, nothing out of the ordinary" that was good? Mavis wasn't sure; it just all seemed bizarre to her; the idea that someone is actually capable of bringing someone back to life; but she could probably guess that the process required specific conditions to be met.

"So what are you planning to do now?" Mavis asked Rita.

"I do not know yet. I've been gone for twenty years, and I don't think walking back into my family's life would be a good idea; it would be too shocking for them. But I would like to go see them before I decide" Sayla smiled placing a hand on Rita's shoulder.

"Then we should go visit them"

"Eh?" Rita was surprised. Sayla continued.

"Not as you, but as someone else, a simple disguise" she suggested; Rita considered the proposal.

"I suppose that could work..." Sayla nodded before turning to Mavis.

"By the way, once you have finished eating, Natsu would like to speak with you" Mavis could already imagine what their conversation was going to be about; she too was eager to speak with him; they had much to discuss.

Sayla's home was a lake house in the middle of a massive forest; it was quiet and had a beautiful view Mavis wouldn't mind spending the rest of her days here; though she couldn't tell where exactly it was located but was certain that they were still in Fiore. She found Natsu lying in a hammock.

"Finally awake are we" Natsu said as Mavis approached. "So how do you feel?"

"In control" her response made Natsu chuckle.

"Good, good" he hopped out his hammock. "And it looks like you win the first round Mavis, you didn't turn to the path of a demon" Mavis narrowed her eyes at this, her guard was back up.

"The 'me' who called herself Vermillion; you imbued her with some of your power didn't you?" though it was a question, Mavis was more stating the fact rather than asking. Natsu grinned, stepping back and raising his hands up.

"Guilty as charged" his eyes filled with amusement. "I will admit that everything I have done till now was to try and make it easier to convert you; but it would seem that your resolve to be human was stronger than I anticipated" he paused, "But then again, 'human' isn't really the correct word to describe you now is it"

"And what exactly am I?" she questioned, eyes narrowed; she was hesitant to use magic, still unclear as to what her new found abilities are. Natsu shrugged his shoulders walking towards the edge of the lake.

"Who knows, you must find out for yourself" Mavis sighed scratching her head at how anticlimactic the situation was.

"Regardless" Mavis keeping the conversation on track, "Everything you've done till now was an attempt to try and convert me. You offered to help me control my curse so that I would put my faith in you; you introduced me to your allies to show me your good intent; you showed me your memories so that I could show you sympathy; and finally, you granted power to Vermillion to try and push me into a corner; all of that, to try and have me accept the demonification. Did I miss anything?" Natsu clapped his hands.

"Bravo, you figured it all out, I'm impressed, but as you can see, it didn't work; your future self, lacked the ability to deliver it would seem" Natsu sounded crestfallen, but she knew he wasn't disappointed, in fact it was almost like he was pleased. "Now that you have your first victory, how about we start round two?" Mavis had other plans.

"Actually" she started which immediately got Natsu to stare at her. "I would like to change the rules of our game"

"Go on..." Mavis smiled inwardly, she seemed to have finally figured Natsu out.

"It is still a game of conquest, but a little more interesting; instead of playing with human lives, I propose we play a game of chess" knowing that she had Natsu's attention, Mavis continued. "Like chess, we will each have a set of pieces we will use to conquer the objective"

"And what is the objective?"

"It will be different every time, we will take turns deciding before the round begins. The first to win five rounds will win the game. What do you think? A game with more variety to spice it up" Natsu looked away in deep thought; though Mavis knew it was all for show, she knew what his answer was going to be.

"Consider me interested; but what made you want change the game?" Mavis smirked, a look that Natsu genuinely found very attractive.

"Your original game was to explore the extent of human nature; I on the other hand wish to explore the nature of demons. This game will bring humans and demons together; a game that can allow us to explore both possibilities, a game where we both get what we want" at this point Natsu was laughing with delight; everything was turning out better than he expected. His desire to acquire Mavis only increased, the girl was far too entertaining; he could not wait to win. The wing mark on their hands glowed and dimmed.

"And consider the rules of our game changed" Natsu announced.

* * *

Makarov Dreyer has never met his parents; but from the stories told by Fairy Tail's second Master, Purehito, they sounded like amazing people. His mother had died minutes after giving birth to him and his father passed away for some unknown reason a year later. Though nobody has ever implied it or accused him of it, Makarov has always felt responsible for their deaths.

It was past midnight and Makarov had just left the guild after a long drawn out job, he was hungry and tired but at this time no place was open. That was when a wonderful smell graced his nostrils; the scent of grilled eels; his stomach started rumbling while he followed the smell. It was a small kart located in the middle of the forest, just outside Magnolia, it looked to be run by two individuals.

"Hello" he greeted them, one was a young girl with pink hair and grey eyes, she had pointed ears like an owl and sprouted a pair of pink bird like wings; the other person, also a woman, looked relatively normal, except for the fact she was wearing a fox mask. There were many anthropomorphous beings living in Fiore, but Makarov had to admit, he's never met one with bird attributes before.

"Good evening, my name is Mystia Lorelei and I will be your chef for tonight; what would you like to have?" the young girl introduced. Makarov looked over the wooden tablets which listed the menu items.

"I'll have some grilled lampreys" Mystia nodded, but then frowned while turning to her helper.

"I'm going to go refill on some ingredients, I will be right back" the woman nodded. The Night Sparrow ran off.

"Sorry about this, we had a wave of customers earlier and forgot to restock" the woman explained; Makarov shook his head.

"It's quite alright, it is late after all, I'm pretty sure you didn't expect any more customers" the woman giggled before jumping a little, acting embarrassed.

"How rude of me, my name is Rita and I will be your server for tonight" she introduced. Makarov looked at the woman, smiling a little.

"My mother's name was also Rita" he didn't know why he said that.

"Oh my, what a coincidence; what is your mother like?"

"I never met her, she passed away shortly after my birth; my father shortly after" as he explained Rita paused, inwardly shocked that her husband had also passed away.  
"I'm sorry to hear that" she whispered. Makarov noticed the mood dim.

"But my guild" he exclaimed quickly "Even if my parents aren't with me anymore, Fairy Tail has been a loving family to me" though Makarov couldn't see it, he could tell Rita was smiling behind the mask.

"It might not be much coming from me; but I'm sure your parents are proud of you" Makarov chuckled.

"Shocked, maybe; but proud? I don't think so" he said. "A lot of people say I am quite the flashy individual"

"Oh my; sounds to me like you inherited that from your father" Rita's comment made Makarov raise a brow.

"What makes you say that?" Rita shrugged.

"Let's just say, I have a hunch that would be the case" Mystia interrupted their moment by entering the scene with a box.

"Sorry for the wait!" Mystia turned to Rita "Could you help me start grilling these" the woman nodded. The sound of fire crackling sounded in the quite night; it was relaxing and Makarov couldn't help but feel at ease. He looked to the masked woman; he didn't know why, but he felt like he was able to open up to the woman, something he's never felt like he could do before.

"Tell me sir, what is being part of a guild like?" Rita asked; at this Makarov lightened up, eager to answer.

* * *

 **I would like to address how this story will work. As the title implies, it is a game between Natsu and Mavis; for each arc, one of the parties will have a hidden agenda, and throughout that arc, their actions will be questioned and tested. The "Pieces" will try and figure out what is going on, but I would like you, the readers to try and figure it out as well. Who do you think will win each round and why; make it a discussion between you readers, we're all friends after all, haha. You guys could put it in the forums or something, but I would really like to see if you guys can figure out the mystery in each arc.**

 **At the end of each arc, both Natsu's and Mavis' motives will be explained, very much like in this arc.**

 **Don't know if you guys will do it, but it certainly will be interesting to see your discussions. Tell me what you think in a review.**


	11. The Chess Pieces Gather

**And finally getting to the meat of the story; from here on out, the games will begin.**

 **The more I think about it, the more I realized that the first arc was actually just a very long Prologue. Haha.**

 **Well, review and tell me what you think!**

* * *

Three individuals stepped out of the train as it stopped at Hargeon Town, all of them bearing the Fairy Tail mark. The one to lead the group was Erza Scarlet, a red haired girl dressed in a simple white blouse and skinny jeans; she had a sheathed sword strapped to her belt. The second to follow her was Mirajane Strauss, a girl with flowing white hair tied up in a pony tail; her revealing black and purple punk outfit is what has most people staring at her. Third was Gray Fullbuster, who for the thousandths time was stripped down to his underwear. Erza looked at Gray with a sigh.

"Gray, your clothes" the boy looked down, jumping up surprised before rushing back into the train and coming out fully dressed in a white coat and dark blue trousers.

"You know, you probably could have told me sooner" he grumbled. Mira was the one who scoffed at him.

"It's not our responsibility to keep an eye on your clothes, that is your job" she scolded, Gray didn't say anything, it was obvious that Mira was not in a good mood today, probably due to the spat she and Erza had earlier. The train sounded its horn, moving to its next destination.

"Where's Sting?" Erza asked.

"SAVE ME!" they head him scream as the train left the station. They all stared as the blonde haired boy who was leaving their sight. Their fourth member was Sting Eucliffe, a boy doing his very best to try and keep himself from hurling out the window.

"Ah..." Mira muttered. "It left". They had managed to stop the train and rescue their fallen friend.

"How could you leave me there?" Sting cried still looking a little green. Erza looked apologetic.

"Sorry Sting, it's just that we thought you were able to recover once we stopped" she explained; Gray on the other hand was doing a very bad job holding in his laughter, which got Sting angry.

"You want to say something Popsicle?" the blond growled; Gray couldn't hold it anymore as he burst into laughter while pointing at Sting.

"You're pathetic!" Gray exclaimed "to think that the mighty Dragon Slayer still gets motion sickness", Sting retorted by laughing as well.

"Yeah well at least I know how to keep my clothes on, pervert!" he responded. Gray looked down and jumped noticing his naked body.

"Again?" Gray was quick to dress himself. Erza shook her head.

"Stop this you two and focus on the reason we came here" she ordered them. Meanwhile Mira was looking over the crowded town.

"Are you sure the First is here?" she asked.

"What gives you doubts?" Erza questioned.

"The First tends to avoid crowded areas. Remember those jobs we took with her when we were children?" Erza hated to admit it, bu Mira did have a point; whenever she and the First took jobs together, she always chose jobs that were in rural and obscure places; in fact it was very rare for the First to even hang out in the guild; which is actually how she earned the nickname 'Hermit'.

"Well regardless, we were told that there was someone here going by the name Hermit who possesses beautiful magic; I think it's worth it's worth a shot" Mira still looked skeptical.

"That's another thing; the First hardly ever shows off her magic in public, whoever this 'Hermit' is? I really don't think it's her" once again Mira was right, but Erza wasn't going to give up; she looked at her white haired comrade with annoyance.

"If all you're doing is denying she's here, why did you decide to come along?" Erza asked; Mira smirked.

"Mainly to watch you fail" That got Erza's blood to boil, but before the two girls could fight, Sting and Gray jumped in between them.

"Hey! You two, why don't we go into town and start searching" Sting said.

"Yeah, the sooner we start, the sooner we can find this 'Hermit'" Gray added. The two girls glared at each other before stomping into town.

* * *

"Honestly! Knocking off only one thousand jewels? Is my look really only worth that much?" Lucy, a beautiful young mage, muttered to herself; her frown then turned into a smile as she stared adoringly at a small silver key, "but at least I managed to get this" she started rubbing her face against the object. She suddenly heard a crowd of females gather squealing like little girls; she couldn't help be curious as to what it was about. As she squeezed through the women, Lucy found herself watching a tall young man waving at them while prancing around and smiling at the women; for some odd reason Lucy felt her heart throb, a faint blush forming on her cheeks.

"To be surrounded by all you beautiful women; I truly am a lucky man" he flashed a grin causing everyone to scream with joy, Lucy included.

"First!" a sudden random voice shouted while pushing away the crowd of ladies. "First! It's me Sting!" face faulting, the boy stopped to stare at the man. "Who the hell are you?" the man looked a little frightened but kept his composure.

"You might have heard of me, I am known as Hermit" he announced loudly, but Sting was already walking away. A horde of woman stampeded on top of the blonde boy.

"How rude of you!" they snapped at him.

"Now, now girls; it was a simple misunderstanding" Hermit said breaking up the crowd. "Sorry about them; here, take this, my autograph"

"I don't want this!" Sting yelled at him angrily; but the man ignored him, snapping his fingers a carpet of fire formed beneath his feat lifting him into the air.

"I'm having a party tonight on my yacht, everyone is invited" he told them all before flying away. Sting stood up dusting himself.

"Well that guy definitely wasn't the First" he muttered. Gray approached him

"Look at you; first it was a train, now it's a bunch of women; you really are on a losing streak" he said.

"Oh? Then why don't I change that streak by beating you down" Sting retorted, Gray smirked cracking his knuckles.

"Bring it on you stupid light bulb"

"Um..." they stopped and stared at Lucy who was trying to get their attention. "I just wanted to say thank you for saving me back there" Sting and Gray looked at her confused.

* * *

"I'm Lucy. Nice to meet you!" Lucy introduced herself. She had invited both Gray and Sting for lunch as gratitude, and was sort of regretting it now that she was watching Sting pig out on four plates of food; at least Gray was eating his share normally.

"Nice to meet you" Gray responded. Sting nodded.

"Yeah, you're really nice" the blonde said with his mouth full. Lucy looked a little disgusted.

"Thanks... you're Sting and Gray right?" the two boys nodded. "You see that guy was using a spell called Charm, it hypnotizes people into attraction and can force people to do things they wouldn't normally do, that's why the magic council has banned the spell from being used. But to think there are still guys like him who use it just to get popular with women, how low can you get" she explained angrily. She then looked at them with pride. "I may not look like much, but I'm actually a mage myself; a celestial mage in fact" both Sting and Gray perked up at this.

"We also have a celestial mage back in our guild, her names Yukino" Gray responded.

"You guys are mages as well?" Lucy exclaimed a little shocked.

"Yep" they responded at the same time.

"We're sort of on a job right now" Gray told her. Lucy put two and two together.

"That's right, you guys were looking for someone; First? Was it?" Lucy had to admit, the name was unusual; but she wasn't going to outright say it. Sting swallowed his food before answering.

"Yeah; but that guy definitely wasn't it" Gray rolled his eyes.

"Of course it wasn't, I guess Mira was right, the First isn't here"

"You know Erza; the First is like a mother to her, she'll take every lead, even if they all turn out to be false, as long as she can find her, she doesn't care" Sting retorted.

"If you can describe this person to me, maybe I can help... why is he stripping?" Lucy offered but couldn't help notice Gray was now topless; her eyes widened at the Fairy Tail mark though. "You're part of Fairy Tail?" Gray was too busy putting on his clothes to answer, Sting just nodded while continuing to scarf down food. Lucy's eyes were shining with excitement.

"I've always wanted to join Fairy Tail! Tell me, what sort of tests, interviews, do I need to take to join?" Lucy asked. Gray shook his head, a little amused that someone would think there was a test to join their ranks.

"No, nothing like that, just follow us when we head back, we'll get you your Guild Mark" Lucy was stunned by the simplicity.

"It's that easy?" both Sting and Gray nodded.

"There you two are!" Erza suddenly appeared, calling out to them, both her and Mirajane approached them. Lucy was inwardly squealing.

"It's Mirajane" she whispered. The white haired girl raised a brow at Lucy. "It's an honor to finally meet you Mirajane" Lucy said "I'm a huge fan of your work" Mira smiled; with her popularity sky rocketing because of her modeling career, it was often that she would catch the eyes of her many fans.

"Thank you, and you are?" Mira asked.

"My name is Lucy, I am a mage hoping to join Fairy Tail" Erza smiled.

"Well then, we will be happy to have you once we return; but for now we are here looking for someone in this town, perhaps you've met her?"

"The Hermit in this town is some womanizer trying to score a date" Gray answered, Erza raised a brow at this. Lucy, thinking about the man made her angry again.

"I wouldn't say womanizing, he's an outright criminal" she ranted again.

"What makes you say that?" Erza asked.

"That guy was using a Charm spell to seduce women" both Erza and Mira narrowed their eyes at this.

"Is that right..." there was an ominous tone to Mira's speech which put Sting and Gray on guard; they knew that whenever Mira spoke like that, someone was going to get hurt very bad. Erza commanded the four of them; her eyes equally as sinister.

"Let's go find this man and bring him to justice".

* * *

Both Gray and Sting stood on the beach watching a large boat in the distance. They were instructed to stay behind, mainly due to the fact that the party was limited to only women. Erza, Mira and Lucy were the ones to board the ship.

"This sucks, why am I stuck here with this stripper" Sting muttered.

"Don't think I like this arrangement either, I'd much rather be over there kicking some ass"

"Well, we can agree on that" there was a moment of silence once again.

"How do you think they are going to take him down?" Sting asked.

"Probably search and destroy once Erza and Mira get tired of the party" Gray responded. And right he was; on board the ship were a dozen of unconscious women having been drugged by the alcohol they drank; Erza, Mira and Lucy were the only ones awake. Erza was running around beating down everyone with her sheathed sword. Mira who had transformed into her Demon Soul was easily wrecking havoc on all her enemies. Lucy stood on the side completely awed by their capability; but she broke out of thoughts when she realized she needed to make a good impression; she wasn't helpless, she was a Celestial mage. Pulling out a golden key

"Open the Gate to the Water Bearer: Aquarius!" A blue haired mermaid appeared, she looked annoyed but Lucy didn't notice. "Aquarius! Wash away all those thugs!" she pointed. Aquarius however looked away.

"Tsk" Lucy's jaw dropped,

"Did you just 'Tsk' me!" Aquarius glared and leaned in close.

"Listen girl, you just dragged me away from my date, Date! What do you think my boyfriend is going to think of me?" Lucy shrunk under her gaze.

"That you're a brilliant and beautiful woman?" she squeaked out; however Aquarius wasn't amused.

"Whatever" the mermaid swung her urn conjuring up a massive wave of water; it swallowed the boat along with everyone in it. Both Erza and Mira were stunned by the sudden overflow of water and were quick to grab onto something. The wave pushed the boat into the beach. Lucy spat out water and looked around, alarmed that she might have accidently destroyed a small part of the town thanks to the tsunami. "Looks like I accidently swept the boat along"

"You were aiming for me?" Lucy screamed. Aquarius ignored her cries.

"Don't call me for another week, I'm going on vacation with my boyfriend; boyfriend" the mermaid said disappearing.

"You don't need to say it twice!" Lucy yelled a little annoyed.

"What the hell was that?" Sting and Gray cried out from the sideline. Lucy ran up to them.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't think my spirit would go overboard"

"That was you?" Gray shouted while looking between her and the wreck.

"That was awesome! What else can you do?" Sting questioned Lucy. However before she could say anything, there was an explosion. Mira and Erza emerged along with a bunch of thugs and their leader.

"You ruined everything!" Hermit screamed at them. Erza eyed him.

"You're the one who call's yourself Hermit" she said. "Who is it that you are trying to impersonate?" the man smirked brushing dirt away from his cape, answered without thinking.

"Why Hermit from Fairy Tail of course" his answer had signed his death warrant. The anger in Erza's eyes was murderous; she slowly drew her sword. The other three were also angry but they knew how personal Erza took it; even Mira backed away fearing the red heads wrath.

"I don't care if you are a good guy or a bad guy; but anyone who uses Fairy Tail's name and especially my Master's name, will be cut down!" before Erza could do anything she was hit with a ball of fire.

"Hmph all bark, no bite" Hermit said lowering his hand.

"Erza!" Lucy cried.

"Don't worry; such simple magic does not work on Erza" Mira assured. The purple fire started to disappear and was absorbed into Erza's blade. "Her sword, Seigfreid, is capable of absorbing magic that belongs to the Godai Elements" Lucy's eyes widened; the Godai Elements consisted of Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Void. Not many people were capable of wielding all five elements, but there was one in Fairy Tail that was famous for it; she went by the name...  
"Five Swords Erza Scarlet" Lucy gasped out. Erza leaped forward and with a single swing of her sword, a wave of fire consumed the thugs, taking them out. She got a better look at the imposter.

"I recognize you now" she growled. "You are Bora of Prominence; you were kicked out of your guild, Titan Nose for using your magic to aid thieves" the now named Bora stepped back surprised by how easily Erza had wrapped his men up. He jumped away; he did not intend to go down without a fight.

"Prominence Typhoon!" a spiraling column of fire was sent flying towards Erza; the girl pivoted on her heel and swung her blade.

"Aqua Pierce" the blade was enveloped in a body of water as it easily cut through the fire attack before an arc of water was sent bolting at Bora; it hit the man, throwing him into a wall, knocking him out and leaving a deep gash across his chest. Lucy stared in awe and how easily the man was disposed of.

"That's our Erza!" Sting shouted jumping for joy; Gray nodded approvingly and Mira could only smile. Lucy could hear the sound of metal footsteps approach; it was the Rune Knights. She jumped up waving at them.

"Over here!" however Sting had grabbed her hand as the Fairy Tail members started running away. "What are you doing?" Lucy asked.

"If you're going to join Fairy Tail, there is one thing you should know about us" Gray said, Lucy looked concerned. "The Magic Council really doesn't like us".

"They're over there!" the captain of the knights yelled "Get them!" however the Fairy Tail mages were already miles ahead.

* * *

Deep in the darkest parts of an unknown forest was a Dark Guild called Wolves Tooth. The guild hall was a wreck and there was blood everywhere; hundreds of bodies lay lifeless on the floor and stairs. One man was crawling away leaving a trail of blood from his missing foot. A young girl, looking around the age of fifteen or sixteen approached the man, a sword in hand she plunged it through his heart.

"How many does that make?" a voice said from the second floor; the girl looked up

"Thirty" she answered.

"My, my Kagura, you're slacking; fifty is your usual kill count" the voice said. Kagura rolled her eyes while wiping away the blood on her sword.

"I would say you're the one slacking Ultear; you have blood on your coat" Ultear looked down, and there was indeed a spot of blood on her beloved long coat.

"Gah!" she quickly used her saliva to try and get rid of the stain. There was a giggle; all eyes were on the third presence; a pink haired girl holding onto a spear.

"I think I'm the one who is in top shape today" she said. Ultear smiled.

"Oh? What makes you say that Meredy?" Meredy grinned at the two.

"I was able to master the new spell I was practicing a few weeks ago" both Ultear and Kagura nodded approvingly.

"Congratulations" Ultear said while making her way down to the first floor; flakes of ice forming on the staircase at each of her steps. All three girls possessed the Tartaros guild mark on their right shoulder. Kagura noticed the front door was jarred open.

"One managed to get away" she told the other three; Ultear didn't look worried, she smiled in fact.

"Don't worry; _she_ will take care of it".

The last remaining member of Wolves Tooth was running as fast as he could; he could hear the sound of an animal chase him. He didn't dare look behind fearing that it would only slow him down. There was a whoosh before an arrow struck the back of his heel. The man screamed in pain, tumbling over; he held his leg, the arrow pierced right through his foot; he could no longer walk with it. At this point the man was crying, backing into a tree looking into the darkness. A pair of glowing red eyes appeared, revealing a massive black wolf; it approached the man, baring its fangs. A girl suddenly appeared, wearing a snow white hooded coat; she had a bow strapped across her shoulders; she was patting the wolf.

"Good boy" she whispered. The girl strolled to the man, a knife in hand.

"Please..." the man pleaded. "Please, spare me" the girl hushed him.

"Tell me" her voice ghostly, it sent shivers down the man's spine. "Are you the hunter? Or the hunted?" the man hesitated to answer; his eyes glancing over the sharp knife, before eyeing the fangs of the wolf.

"The - the hunter!" he whimpered out. The girl stared at him, putting her knife away; she looked to the wolf stroking its fur.

"Fenrir, he said that he is the hunter" once again the man didn't know why, but the girl's voice just sounded frightening; but he let out a sigh of relief when the girl started walking away. Thinking that he was safe, he didn't notice the black wolf approach him hungrily. The man looked up noticing a shadow looming over him, eyes widening as he was plunged into fear once again. The girl walked back to the Wolves Tooth guild.

"The hunter must always be prepared to be the hunted, as the hunted can always become the hunter" she mumbled while listening to the sound of screams.

"Aren't you the cruel one" Ultear said. The girl looked at her before walking past her and through the doors into the guild. "The Hunter or the Hunted" Ultear recited.

"It's a question without any right answer" Kagura answered. Meredy shook her head.

"No, it's a question with many right answers" she said, "It's only a matter of how you approach the problem" Meredy smiled at the girl. "Isn't that right, Lisanna".


	12. Arc 2: The Hermit Returns

**New chapter! You may have noticed I haven't included any of the Exceed's; mainly because their presence wouldn't fit in this story, so they won't be appearing.**

 **Let me know what you think!**

* * *

Lucy sighed; she never thought going on jobs would be so exhausting, or maybe it was exhausting because of Erza and her team. Regardless, she still couldn't believe she was finally part of Fairy Tail and it was everything she could imagine, that is if you exclude the constant brawls the guild had, but except that, everything was perfect. She even met another fellow Celestial Spirit Mage, Yukino Agria; and much to her surprise, she also possessed some Golden Celestial Keys. The two Celestial mages had actually just finished a job together along with Sting; well it was actually Sting who wanted to go and dragged the girls along with him. The job was to retrieve a book; sounded easy enough at first, but the shenanigans that came along certainly weren't. First the client had raised the reward to two million jewels; then they find out that the book was written by a very famous author Kaby Melon who was imprisoned and forced to write the book by a corrupted politician, Duke Everlue. All in all, the job ended in a failure because they didn't actually fulfill the job description.

"You look tired" Yukino said, breaking Lucy out of her thoughts.

"Just disappointed that we didn't get a reward for our last job" Yukino giggled taking a seat next to her by the bar.

"It's to be expected; it's a guild policy that we don't accept payments if the job is incomplete" she explained.

"I understand, but I could really use the money right now" Yukino looked to the blonde concerned.

"Are you really low on money right now? If you want I could lend you some" Lucy smiled at the offer but shook her head.

"No, it's just that I need money for this month's rent" she replied. Gray approached and sat next to her.

"Well you could always join another team for a job; I heard you did a very good job on that last job, so you'll probably get a lot of offers" he said, Lucy looked dejected.

"I really didn't do much"

"Don't sell yourself short; I heard that you single handily took down the Vanish Brother's" Lucy rested her head on her palm pointing at Sting.

"Sting was the one who did all the fighting" Gray turned to him.

"That was you?" Sting glared at him, mouth full of food.

"You got a problem with that?"

"Gray, your clothes" Yukino said

"Again?" Gray yelled. Sting rolled his eyes going back to his meal.

"What a pain in the ass" in response Gray grabbed Sting by the collar.

"Oi, did you just call me a pain in the ass; you stupid flashlight?" Sting wasn't backing down.

"A massive pain, you ice freak!" while the two were bickering, Loke was by Lucy's side trying to work his charm on her.

"If you want, we can form a Love Love team" Lucy backed away a little disturbed.

"Why did you repeat love?" however Loke wasn't listening, he inched closer.

"You truly are beautiful, even with my dark shades your aura of beauty glows brightly; if I were to ever take my glasses off, my eyes will no doubt shatter into pieces"

"Then please take off those glasses" Lucy replied. Loke then noticed Lucy's Celestial Keys; he instantly back away.

"You're a Celestial mage?" he cried.

"Yeah" Lucy responded not really sure what got him so spooked. Loke turned to run away.

"What tragedy! To think that our fated encounter would end up like this! I'm afraid I must end our relationship" Lucy watched Loke run away, not at all fazed by his reaction.

"There never was an 'us' to begin with" she muttered. Yukino giggled.

"He had the same reaction with me" she explained. Erza appeared also watching him leave the guild.

"We suspect that he had a bad run with a Celestial Mage in the past" she said. Mira watched with interest; she never was interested in romance, but she did enjoy watching other people fall in love; she found it entertaining; which is why she was famous in the guild for being an avid matchmaker.

"By the way, where is the Master?" Lucy asked noticing the short old man was nowhere to be seen.

"He's currently attending an annual Guild Master meeting. He should be back in a couple of days" Mira said. That was when Loke had run back into the Guild.

"Everyone!" he yelled, catching everyone's attention "The First is back". Everyone was struck with surprise and jumped into action. Lucy looked around to see everyone cleaning up the place.

"What's going on?" she asked. Yukino was the one to answer.

"Over the years; it has always been the First who cleans up the Guild when everyone goes home for the night, so whenever she returns from a mission, we make sure to repay the favor by making sure the Guild is sparkling clean" Lucy looked over at Sting and Gray; they were actually working together for once. She could only imagine who this First really was to warrant such a reaction from them all. Only five minutes have passed and the entire Guild looked completely new.

"Erza and the others have told you about the First right?" Yukino asked. Lucy shrugged.

"A little bit; I only know that she is Erza's mother figure" Yukino nodded while smiling. The Guild doors opened and everyone sat watching in anticipation. A woman strolled in, looking to be around her early to mid twenties.

"She's beautiful..." Lucy whispered, a light blush forming on her cheeks.

"Welcome back First!" they all called. The woman smiled.

"It's good to be back" everyone immediately crowded around her. Lucy sat by the side watching the scene; she was quick to stand up when Yukino led the First towards her.

"First, I'd like to introduce you to our newest member, Lucy" Yukino introduced. "Lucy, this is Fairy Tail's first Guild Master, Mavis Vermillion" Lucy was confused.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Lucy" Mavis greeted with a smile; Lucy was turning red with embarrassment.

"No, no, the pleasure is mine"

"How are you liking Fairy Tail so far?" Mavis asked. Lucy nodded furiously while smiling.

"It's been great, everybody has been very nice and helpful" Lucy made sure to choose her words carefully, not wanting to offend the founder. Though she still found it odd, she didn't think there would be someone that old still amongst the living. But Lucy's first impression of the First can be described as mesmerizing; she couldn't explain it, but the First had this aura of grace and authority to her. She could now could understand why everyone in the guild respected her so much.

"Where have you been all this time?" Erza asked what everybody has been wondering for the past three months. Mavis smiled apologetically at the red head.

"I left to go on a training trip; I'm sorry to have worried you all" everyone seemed to accept the answer; Erza however knew there was more to it, but decided to question her master at a later time. "Where is the Third Master?" Mavis asked.

"He's currently at the annual Guild Master meeting" Cana replied. The First nodded, turning to face Erza, Mira, Sting and Gray.

"It is sudden, but I need you four to help me on a mission tomorrow, meet me at the train station at noon" was all she said before leaving the guild once again. Everyone could only stand stunned.

"The First needs help with a mission?" Macao whispered, Wakaba could only watch, equally as stunned.

"Well that's certainly interesting" Cana said having returned to her drinks. Lucy turned to look at her.

"Why is it weird that the First is asking for help?" Cana took a swing of a barrel before answering.

"The First is the strongest mage in our ranks; nobody can match her power, not even our ace; so to hear that she needs help on a job is quite alarming" Lucy's eyes went wide.

"She's that amazing?" Cana smirked.

"Believe me, there is nobody out there who can overpower her" Lucy stared at the door which Mavis left through.

* * *

It was getting late and the only thing Mavis was thinking about was the softness of a bed. She turned a corner and noticed the lights to her house were on; her eyes narrowed and she marched to her door and slammed it open.

"Why the heck are you in my house again?!" she screamed. Natsu and Wendy were sitting around Mavis' dining table.

"Because you have a great place" Natsu said munching on some cookies; Mavis' eyes widened and quickly grabbed the box of snacks.

"My limited edition lemon cookies" she whimpered sadly while staring into the near empty box. Natsu laughed nervously.

"Sorry about that, but they were very addicting after the first bite" he apologized. There was more munching sounds; Mavis turned around to see Wendy eating a bag of rice crackers. Mavis jumped forward taking the bag away from her, Mavis shook the bag; it was empty.

"I stood in line for three days to get these" she whispered.

"If it makes you feel better, they taste terrible" Wendy tried to assure her.

"No! That doesn't make me feel better!" she yelled. There was a moment before Mavis realized there was a sizzling sound coming from the kitchen.

"Oh! It's ready!" Koishi's voice surprised Mavis; she didn't even notice the girl was sitting next to Wendy; though that is to be expected considering her ability to manipulate the subconscious. Koishi came back with a plate of steak. Mavis stared at it.

"You're the biggest offender of the three!" the blonde screamed, she dropped to her knees crying her eyes out. "I spent five hundred thousand jewels on that piece of steak" Natsu went over to her and patted her head.

"There, there; but if you don't want people to eat your food, you shouldn't leave it lying around in your house like that" Natsu comforted her. There was a knock on the door, which actually frightened Mavis; she didn't want any more demons invading her home. But she stood up to open the door.

"Good evening" it was Sayla, the only demon Mavis didn't mind having over. Mavis grabbed Sayla's hand and pulled her inside.

"Please help me kick these three out!" Sayla looked confused at Mavis' request.

"Are we not having a dinner party here tonight?" Mavis stared at her; then turned back to Natsu who was attempting to get a piece of meat from Koishi's plate.

"Who told you that?" she asked Sayla.

"Natsu did" Mavis' reaction was to throw her bag of cookies right into Natsu's face.

"Don't organize parties in other people's homes without their consent!" she screamed; Natsu chuckled, waving her off. Sayla frowned at him as well.

"Natsu... we've discussed this before; if you're going to organize a party like this, at least make it a surprise party" she scolded her Master. Mavis' face faulted.

"That's not really the problem here" but was left ignored. There was another knock on the door; Mavis hesitated but opened the door anyway; Jackal, Kyouka, Ezel and Satori piled inside. It was only now did Mavis notice Sayla was carrying a basket. She sighed knowing there was no way to escape them.

Jackal the Elemental Bomber; his destructive nature was well known throughout Tartaros; Fiore has had many mysterious cases of explosions, mostly in guilds and houses of political figures; all of them would point to Jackal. Ezel the Mad Executioner; was brash and wild, he has a thirst for combat and would go out of his way to pick fights, whether it is against humans or demons he wouldn't hesitate to cut them down. Kyouka though she didn't possess any nickname like the others, she was equally as terrifying if not even more so; she was a demon of enhancement, possessing power of sense manipulation; though she wasn't as adept with manipulating the brain like the Komeiji sisters, her combat prowess made up for it.

The party certainly was hectic; mostly because of Natsu, Jackal and Ezel going wild with the alcohol. Kyouka turned out to be a crying drunk; she was sitting on side with Sayla and Wendy comforting her as she cried her heart out; something about a boyfriend from what Mavis heard. Satori and Koishi were sitting quietly, Satori was drinking a cup of tea, Koishi was eating one of Mavis' secret cakes. Despite the sudden intrusion, Mavis had to admit, Sayla's cooking made up for it. She stepped outside into the empty night; she looked over the calm river bed and sighed.

"Shall we begin round one?" Mavis said. Natsu was standing behind her with a devious smile. "That is what you want to talk about isn't it?"

"You always seem to know what I am thinking" he stood next to her. "Lullaby will be the objective; I'm sure you already know what it is, so I won't bother explaining it" Mavis glanced at him noticing the faint hate in his eyes.

"I shouldn't be surprised, but how did find out?" she asked

"About the mission you are going on tomorrow?" Mavis nodded. "Because I know everything about you" he leaned in close to a whisper "Down to the last detail" Mavis blushed pushing his face away.

"I'd rather you not say something like that, or I'll report you for sexual harassment" Natsu chuckled.

"Alright, alright; but anyways, I had Satori read your mind" Mavis sighed.

"Of course you did"

"You intend to destroy the object" he said causing Mavis to eye him waiting for him to continue. "I, however want to acquire the item"

"I figured as much; however I hope you understand that it is in the hands of another guild" Natsu's smile widened.

"I'm counting on it. Now the rules of the first round; your team is to try and destroy Lullaby; my team is going to try and steal it. If you can destroy the flute before my team puts it in my possession, then it will be your win"

"And your win, if you can manage to get your hands on it" Mavis finished; Natsu nodded before continuing.

"Of course, a very important rule; we are not allowed to participate; break the rule then the round is immediately won by the apposing team" Mavis knew this was coming, though she had hoped Natsu wouldn't bring it up. "We are however allowed to command from a distance" Mavis could role with that. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "The round will start tomorrow once you leave Magnolia" he smirked. "Good luck" normally Natsu's sinister tone would concern her, but having known the demon for over eighty years, she's grown accustomed to his quirks.

* * *

Six Fairy Tail mages were sitting in a private carriage on the train heading towards the next station. Erza and her group sat quietly as Mavis began explaining the details of the mission; Mavis had cast a spell on Sting to prevent his motion sickness; she needed his full attention. Lucy was also there after being told by Yukino to tag along; Mavis was happy to have her join them, but told Lucy to stay away from the fights, at least until she got a better understanding of Lucy's capabilities in magic.

"Lullaby; it is a cursed object created to kill all those who listen to its melody. Our mission is to find it and destroy it" She glanced at them; none of them spoke, so she continued "The item is currently in the hands of a dark guild called Eisenwald"

"Isn't that the guild that Erigor is in?" Mira asked. Lucy looked to her in wonder, which Mira noticed. "Erigor is known as the Shinigami, a man who only ever takes assassination jobs" at this Lucy wished she didn't ask; she glanced over the others and they didn't look at all fazed, in fact they all looked eager to take them on.

"We'll take them down First; those punks don't stand a chance" Sting exclaimed; Gray nodded.

"For once I agree with the light bulb"

"Don't worry First, we will find Lullaby and destroy it before they can do anything with it" Mira assured. Erza however didn't say anything, out of the three, she's known Mavis the longest; she knew when something else was worrying her master.

"It is good that you are all so determined; however, Eisenwald is not who I am concerned about. Erza, Mira, Gray, Sting" Mavis said. "Five years ago I told you the reason why I was training you to be some of the strongest mages in Fairy Tail" The four of them widened their eyes, realizing what she was implying. "Lucy; everything I say now must be kept a secret" Lucy looked nervous but nodded; Mavis held a grim expression continued explaining "The game has begun; and our true opponent is the Guild Tartaros"  
"So we finally get to face off against them" Gray commented.

"Bah, it doesn't matter; we will still defeat them" Sting said, full of confidence. Mavis narrowed her eyes.

"I recommend you move with caution; the members of Tartaros are dangerous"

"Master..." Erza finally spoke; Mavis turned to her. "I understand that you've made it your task to study them and find all their weak points so that one day we can eliminate them. So out of all of us you know this guild the best. Are you able to tell us who we will be facing?" Mavis shook her head.

"I'm afraid I cannot. Their Master left out all the details" everyone jumped at what she said; they understood that Mavis knew a lot about the enemy guild, but they didn't think she would actually meet their Guild Master; they were under the assumption that her investigations were in secret. "Do not be alarmed, it is to be expected that I would be contacted personally for the details of the first round" everyone was still on edge. "The rules of the first round are as follows; our objective is to destroy Lullaby; their objective is to steal it from Eisenwald. We must destroy the flute before Tataros can bring it back to their Master" Everyone nodded. But Lucy was confused; out of everyone she was the one out of the loop.

"Sorry, but I am confused. What game are you talking about First?" Lucy asked. Mavis sighed; she expected this but right now but she didn't want to explain the situation.

"I will explain when things settle down Lucy; for now I must brief you on the plan" Mira raised a brow at this.

"First, do you know what Tartaros is planning?" Mavis shook her head.

"No, but I do have a good idea what Eisenwald is planning. In regards to Tartaros; I cannot plan a counter for them until I know who we are up against. So for now, just be on the lookout for their members".

"Understood" they said; Mavis smiled.

"Now here is the plan".

* * *

Sayla was taking a stroll in the woods close by her home when she felt a chill slowly rise up her feet. She stopped and looked behind her; four girls stood waiting. Sayla smiled at them but frowned when they started kneeling; she sighed.

"What have I told you about bowing to me?" she questioned them.

"Not to do it" Meredy said.

"And what are you doing?" Sayla questioned again.

"Bowing to you" Ultear replied with a grin. Sayla sighed rubbing her temples.

"You girls..." they stood up all with smiles on their lips.

"We have returned from our recent job" Kagura reported.

"I hope everything went well" the four girls nodded.

"We were able to eliminate our target" Lisanna said. Sayla nodded.

"Good; but as much as I would like to give you girls a break, you have a new assignment" this caught their interest. "Master has begun his game; you four are to seek out a Dark Guild by the name of Eisenwald and steal an item called Lullaby; your opponents are from Fairy Tail; steal it before they can destroy the object" they nodded; before they could leave Sayla called out to them, specifically Lisanna.

"Lisanna; one of the members from Fairy Tail is your sister" Lisanna's eyes went dark as hatred consumed her; the white haired girl turned away; her voice turning cold.

"Mirajane Strauss is no sister of mine".


	13. Arc 2: The Game Begins

**Been a while! So let's get the first round started!**

* * *

They were at Kunugi Station and all the civilians were running wild attempting to flee from the station. Erza and her team pushed through the crowd into an empty plaza; Erza was looking around and the area was deceptively deserted. She had an ear piece in her left ear which was powered by a mini lacrima crystal; the device was linked to Mavis who was standing with Lucy just on the outskirts of the city. Mavis had a map of the city and was looking intently at it, Lucy made sure to keep quiet, afraid that if she made any sort of noise it would disrupt the First's focus.

"What does it look like in the plaza?" Mavis asked through the crystal in her hand.

"It's empty, there's nobody here" Erza replied. Mavis knew something was wrong; she looked intently at the map, certain that Eisenwald was somewhere in the station. From what she's gathered on Eisenwald, there were a rowdy bunch, always determined to make their presence known; them being this quiet was unusual. But regardless, she needed to find a way to draw them out, or at least hunt them down.

"Move into the station and keep your eyes peeled" she ordered.

"Understood" Erza replied. Mavis let out a deep breath; not knowing where the enemy was unnerved her; she glanced over at Lucy who was looking nervous, she smiled at her.

"Don't worry Lucy, everything will be okay" she told her; Lucy smiled back, albeit uneasy. From the corner of Lucy's eye she spotted two people approach, a pink haired man and a horned woman.

"Greetings my dear Mavis" Natsu called to them as he and Sayla approached.

"Natsu" Mavis greeted in return. Lucy raised a brow glancing between the two; she could feel the tension between them.

"How goes your search?" Natsu asked. Mavis leered at his smirk but didn't respond. Sayla was the one to speak.

"Master, the game has only just started; you cannot expect Mavis to have already found the target" she told him, Natsu chuckled, smiling sheepishly at her.

"Ah, well you never know with Mavis, she can be very unpredictable" Sayla was skeptical but had to agree with him. Natsu turned back to Mavis and finally noticed Lucy standing next to her. "What do we have here? Your assistant?" he asked, Mavis glanced back at Lucy before responding.

"Yes"

"She looks..." Natsu paused trying to pick the right words. "Inexperienced" Lucy would have taken it as an insult had it not been true. "But everyone needs to start somewhere" Natsu added while grinning at Lucy holding out his hand. "Nice to meet you, my name is Natsu Dragneel" Lucy stared at his hand, hesitant to shake it, she peeked over at the horned woman and noticed her piercing stare, taken back she quickly shook his hand.

"A pleasure to meet you" she answered carefully; Natsu nodded before turning back to Mavis.

"So! Regardless of whether you've gotten any progress into our match, what do you think?" he asked; Mavis raised a brow.

"Think of what? The fact that Eisenwald, a guild that I'm pretty sure are acting out of character or the fact that Sayla is the one involved in this round" she exclaimed. Sayla covering her mouth let out a soft giggle.

"Don't worry Mavis, I won't be directly involved, rather it will be my children that your team will be facing" she answered. Mavis blinked, she was a little relieved that Erza and her group won't be facing Sayla, but on the other hand she was deeply alarmed, she has never heard of Sayla having any children.

"Not by blood, but I have raised them since they were children, so I consider them my own" Sayla replied noticing Mavis' suspicion.

"Anyways, take a look at this!" Natsu interrupted, throwing blueprints of the station to Mavis; she made a face which Natsu laughed at.

"Ah don't be so surprised, consider this a gift from me"

"And what makes you think I will accept it? For all I know this could be a trap" Mavis replied and of course Natsu laughed at this, he wagged his finger in front of her face.

"Now, now, don't be accusing me of something like that" he proceeded to point to himself "I am a very honest guy" Mavis remained silent, only staring at him. Natsu chuckled nervously before shrugging to himself. "Alright, maybe I'm exaggerating about that, but seriously, this is our first round, why resort to dirty tricks?"

"So you admit that you will resort to trickery later on" Mavis concluded; Natsu gave her a coy grin before turning away.

"Maybe, who knows?" he waved walking away, Sayla following close behind.

"Where are you going?" Mavis called out.

"To get lunch!" he tilted his head back "Want to join me?" Mavis shook her head. "Suit yourself" the two demons walked away. There was a silence that Lucy decided to break.

"Who was that?" she asked, Mavis swallowed looking at the blueprints.

"That man is our opponent in this game".

* * *

Erza looked left, then right, there were two corridors; she turned to her team.

"Looks like we'll need to split up" she said,

"Sting, Gray, you two go right; Mira and I will take the left side" she instructed "If any of you find members of Eisenwald, contact the rest of us through your communicators" Sting and Gray glared at each other but reluctantly nodded. The two teams split up, with Erza and Mira doing their best to move silently.

"First, do you know who the enemies from Tartaros are?" Mira asked, Mavis' voice rung through their communicators.

"I'm afraid not, it would seem that your opponents are people I did not know existed" Erza raised a brow at this information, surprised to know that something could actually be hidden from her Master's radar. Erza stopped, she heard a noise; turning to the darkness, something about it was suspicious, it was spreading; Mira noticed this as well. The two stepped back, and that was when the shadows attacked them, they made a run for it, but were cut off by a mob of mages who appeared out of nowhere. Mira transformed into Satan soul and blew a hole through their defenses with a Soul Extinction, while Erza drew her sword, easily cutting through the enemies. The darkness morphed into fists and made quick attempts to attack the two female mages; Mira simply grabbed the shadows ripping them apart.

"Break through the wall to your left" Mavis told them. Erza not even hesitating cut a hole in the wall, it led them into an office room giving them a way out. "Mira, when I tell you, I want you to knock down the wall next to you" Mavis instructed, Mira nodded; a few seconds passed, they watched the Eisenwald mages pile in. "Now!" and with her demonic strength, Mira kicked the bottom of the wall destabilizing it before pushing it forward, the concrete smashed into pieces on top of a particular shadow before halting the dark mages; in the midst of the rubble was a man writhing in pain.

"Kageyama!" the dark guild members cried out, but the man didn't respond, he only sat glaring at the two female mages while they made their escape.

"Where would Lullaby be kept?" Erza asked.

"Most likely with their leader, Erigor; however I am more worried about Tartaros, they have yet to make their move" Mavis paused pondering on the next course of action. "Your path forward is clear to the Control Room, Erigor is most likely held up there"

"Most likely?" Erza questioned, "Are you not certain of his location?"

"No, my vision is limited to people who possess the Fairy Tail guild mark" Mavis explained "If you find Erigor, do your best to keep him there until Sting and Gray finish with their business" both female mages nodded in acknowledgement.

"Understood".

* * *

Sting was always the punch first ask questions sort of person, hence there was a trail of unconscious dark mages while Sting punched another one across the jaw, all the while screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Tartaros! Get your asses out here! I'll show you not to mess with us!" Gray covered his ears irritated by his comrade's voice; in fact out of annoyance he kicked Sting in the back causing the Dragon Slayer to face plant.

"Shut up, you stupid beacon, your bright lights are already glaring, I don't need your voice attracting more attention" Gray told him. Scrambling back to his feet, Sting looked pissed.

"At least I'm doing something you useless puddle" his comment got Gray to crack his knuckles.

"If I'm useless, that makes you trash" however before they could duke it out, Mavis interrupted their bout.

"You two stop fighting" Sting and Gray stopped and shot up straight "I need you two to form a blockade at the station's two exits, Sting you take the south, Gray the north; and be careful, I cannot predict when Tartaros will strike" Sting smirked.

"Don't worry First, those guys don't stand a chance against us!" Mavis praised his enthusiasm but was not convinced.

"Just be careful and don't underestimate them" Mavis told him, her voice was hard and almost scolding. There was a moment of silence before Gray let out a snicker pointing at Sting.

"You got scolded" he said.

"That goes for you too Gray" Mavis voice suddenly said causing Gray to freeze up; now it was Sting's turn to snicker and point.

"Shut up" Gray grumbled before making his way towards his destination. "Joking aside, be careful, if the First is that worried, then our opponents must be dangerous" Sting nodded responding.

"You too, don't die out there" the two mages went their separate ways.

* * *

Erza slammed the doors open and like Mavis predicted, Erigor was there standing by the console, flute in hand. Not wasting any time Mira struck, transforming back into her Satan soul she attempted to punch Erigor but missed and destroyed the console instead.

"So my informant was correct, the Fairy trash did come" twirling his scythe, Erigor swiped the area unleashing a hurricane of wind.

"Stone Scabbard!" Erza called while drawing her blade holding it in front of her, a stone wall formed over her blade expanding out protecting her; Mira with her enhanced toughness was able to resist it. Jumping forward, Erza swung her blade and the shield shattered shooting stone shards towards Erigor. The rocks were deflected by some form of armor constructed out of wind; Erigor had a smug smile while resting his scythe on his shoulder. Both Erza and Mira narrowed their eyes before engaging the dark mage together. Much to their surprise, Erigor was incredibly skilled with his weapon, able to hold his own against both of them; every time Mira and Erza attacked, they would instead strike the metal of the scythe, and every time they thought they had the upper hand their attack was blocked by his wind armor. However Erza was more focused on the flute that was tucked away on Erigor's belt, the dark mage noticed this and kept Erza at a distance while maintaining Mira closer. The fight was getting intense; with each swing of Erza's blade impacting against Erigor's scythe, the air around them shimmered cutting the walls, and with each magic enhanced punch Mira threw blocked, shock waves would occur, causing the walls to crack under the impact.

"You two just don't give up!" Erigor bellowed. The Fairy Tail mages didn't respond, they backed away realizing that their relentless assault was not working against his defenses. They used this chance to take a breather, planning their next attack; but then, there was a strange sound, a beeping sound. Mira and Erza looked behind them and watched an arrow whizz by, their eyes widened when they noticed a light blinking and before anyone could react, the arrow exploded, completely destroying the room.

"Master said not to kill them" Kagura told Lisanna, the girl lowering her bow.

"They'll live" was her reply "Master wouldn't waste his time with them if they didn't; come let's complete our mission" pulling up their hoods so that their faces were hidden, the two girls made their way into the room.

* * *

Both Sting and Gray stood their ground, their opponent approaching their respective blockade. Sting noticed his enemy was wielding a spear, a very normal looking spear to note; the person's face was hidden underneath a cloak; but Sting wasn't afraid, nor was he intimidated. Cracking his knuckles Sting grinned watching his opponent approach, he had a good feeling about this match up. Gray on the other hand was feeling the opposite, though he wasn't afraid to say, he had an ominous feeling about his opponent, not being able to see their face was unnerving and there was a chill behind their movement.

"Ice make, Cannon!" a blast of ice shot towards the enemy which was met with a wall of ice. The mage then raised their hand and with a swiping motion, summoned forth a bed of icicle beneath Gray's feet, he dived to the side; all feelings of doubt disappearing as his lips twisted into a wild smile; it has been a long time since he faced someone who uses Ice magic.


	14. Arc 2: The Mage Killer

**Tell me what you think!**

* * *

The room was pitch black, the last explosive having knocked out the lights; but with Lisanna and Kagura's trained eyes they could navigate the darkness with little problem. Upon seeing Mirajane, disgust welled up within Lisanna; she looked away in hopes that her emotions would calm down. Eyeing Erigor on the ground, she watched Kagura search his unconscious body for the cursed flute. Soon Lisanna's senses flared upon sensing danger approach; pulling out a dagger she turned around, parrying a sword and face to face with Erza who was covered in scratches, ultimately unharmed by the last attack.

"So you finally show your face Tartaros" Erza growled, her eyes unable to meet Lisanna's own, the latter's face being obscured by the shadow of her hood. Lisanna remained silent, she turned to Mira slowly standing. Kagura managed to retrieve the flute which both Erza and Mira noticed; still in her satan soul, Mira lunged at Kagura, but Lisanna intercepted, kicking her in the stomach allowing Kagura the chance to draw her two swords to attack Erza. Seigfried up in a blocking position, Erza was surprised to be overpowered, her grip on her blade wavering against Kagura's tremendous strength.

"Our Master expects much from Fairy Tail; I hope you don't disappoint" Kagura's voice was stern, and though Erza couldn't see her face, she could tell that her opponent had battle hardened eyes.

"Disappoint? Is that what you care about?" Erza asked, she could see her hooded opponent smile.

"Do not misunderstand, I am simply a warrior who seeks a challenge to improve my skill" Erza could relate, her being a swordswoman she actively sought out strong opponents to better herself, but this was a different matter; she knew they intended to take the flute as their own, but the woman's words implied their intentions were much more than that, could they be testing their skills? Or could they be seeking something more from them, she wasn't sure but whatever it was she disapproved it, to risk the lives of thousands of people for the sake of their amusement, it was unforgivable.

Erza pushed away the twin blades before plunging her weapon towards Kagura; the hooded warrior leaned to the side, swerving and using the butt of one of her swords to strike Erza in the stomach. Erza reeled back kicking Kagura in return. The hooded warrior was quick to retain her footing before making a run out of the control room.

"Follow her!" Mira told Erza "Retrieve the flute! I will keep this one busy" Erza nodded, running after Kagura. Mira turned to her opponent, feeling great malice from her, they stood at each ends, neither one moving a muscle as if one twitch would instigate the fight.

* * *

Mavis having realized that Tartaros had finally shown their face was frantically speaking into the lacrima crystal.

"Everyone can you describe your foe to me?" she said, there was a flurry of voices as everyone tried to speak; after a while having realized what they were doing, they all fell silent with Erza speaking first, she was out of breath.

"I wasn't able to see her face but I can tell she's a skilled swordswoman" next was Sting.

"I can't see her face either but she is a spear user; she hasn't unleashed any magic yet, but I can guess she uses magic to enhance her fighting style"

"Same here, can't see her face; she does however use ice magic" Gray answered simply, Mavis could tell he was having a good time with his opponent, probably since he hasn't had a bout with another Ice mage for a while; ever since his fellow apprentice Lyon left Fairy Tail to seek his own path and his teacher, Ur who has been gone for four months on an S-class job, he's been urging a battle with another ice mage.

"It's dark where I'm standing, so I can't see much. All I can see is her using a bow for ranged attacks and a dagger for close quarters combat" Mira was the last to answer, her voice hushed. Mavis nodded processing the information.

"As you engage your opponent in combat, describe every detail to me; their attacks and their habits, and when you can, try to see what they look like, I need to know everything" she ordered.

"Understood" they responded simultaneously; Mavis paused, something suddenly occurring to her; she connected to Mira.

"What is your opponent wearing?" she asked, Mira raised a brow curious about Mavis' question.

"A white hooded cloak, why?" Mavis' heart sank at the answer; Lucy jumped at the First's distress.

"Is there a black wolf with her?" she yelled.

"A wolf?" now Mira was definitely intrigued, this was the first time she's heard the First sound this panicked.

"Yes, a wolf! Is there one with her?" Mira looked around, she couldn't see anything else, but she certainly sensed another presence looming around her.

"There is something moving around, but I can't be sure if it's a wolf"

"No I'm certain it's her now. Listen to me Mira" Mavis started, but she was met with static. "Mira? Mira? Can you hear me? You must get away from her as soon as possible!" there was no response. Mavis gritted her teeth, she started making her way towards the station but stopped when Natsu appeared in her path; he was chewing on a skewer, his nonchalant gestures annoyed Mavis, he knew why she was so distressed and he was rubbing it in her face; she glared at him.

"You had the Mage Killer within your ranks!" she screamed, Natsu shrugged his shoulders his signature grin forming once more; for some odd reason Mavis' anger was very appealing to him, he didn't know why her expressions in particular were so attractive, but he certainly enjoyed watching the many expressions Mavis made, from her smile to her embarrassment, from her sadness to her anger, he loved them all.

"So I do, what of it?" Mavis attempted to push pass him but Natsu was persistent in blocking her path. "Remember the rule, no direct interference" Mavis glared at him.

"To hell with the rules, you unleashed a vicious killer onto my guild members; I will not just stand by and watch them get killed!" Natsu placed a hand on her shoulder.

"No need to be so worried, I assure you that none of your guild members will be killed, I instructed my members to abide to that rule" of course the only reason he instigated such a rule was because he knew that Mavis' guild members would stand no chance against his own; if Fairy Tail were to be killed off then Mavis would be at a disadvantage, and if she was at a disadvantage then the game wouldn't be fun.

"Do you honestly think that will calm me down?" Mavis questioned.

"It's reassurance. I promise you Mavis that your member's will come out of this alive" Natsu continued to admire Mavis' reaction, her frown not leaving. "Or do you not believe your guild members are strong enough?" he urged her on, knowing that this comment would trigger something in Mavis.

"What? No! I fully believe that they are strong enough to win" she exclaimed.

"Then don't you think it is disrespectful to them if you interfere?"

"These are two completely different matters"

"Is it? Why don't you give them a moment to shine, and if you still believe that you need to interfere, I will let you go. But just remember that the moment you do, it is my win" clenching her fist Mavis was really tempted to punch Natsu in the face, something she was sure he knew as well, which only made her angrier. Taking a deep breath, she caved, despite knowing she was going to regret it later on.

* * *

Mira was unable to contact Mavis; her communication with the First was being jammed. She stared at the hooded woman.

"So it's just us two" the hooded woman kept quiet. "The quiet type huh? Let's see you keep quiet after this" lunging forward Mira's sharp claws bulleted forward, the woman leaned to the side dodging; her subtle movement was a little unnerving for Mira; the hooded woman turned around, walking away; Mira was about to call her out when she heard ferocious growling behind her, turning around Mira was face to face with a black wolf, it's glowing blue eyes were piercing and made her freeze up.

"I guess the First was right about the wolf..." she mumbled, Mira made a quick glance behind and realized the white hooded one was gone; Mira turned back and caught the beast by its fangs, stopping it from taking a bite out of her. With her immense strength she threw the wolf into a wall; the beast recovered and landed onto all four legs, lunging once more at Mira, this time she was able to dodge.

Mira backed away, circling around the wolf and making her way towards the doorway. She was distressed, the hooded woman was nowhere in sight and she wasn't able to tell where she could be hiding.

"Stop it with these games and fight me fair and square!" her voice left a distant echo and was responded with the wolf's snarl. Frustrated, Mira raised both hands.

"Soul Extinction!" sending forth a beam of dark energy, it hit the wolf forcing out a howl of pain, however rather than wounding the beast, it instead made it angrier. Bearing its fangs the wolf sized its prey. Mira however was more concerned about the hooded woman than the beast. If she wanted to win this fight, she needed to take out the wolf first and then focus her attention on the woman. Unbeknownst to Mira, the hooded woman approached from behind and stabbed Mira, her back and leg. Mira screamed, falling to the ground.

"You bitch! I said fight me fair and square!" Mira grasped her wounds while glaring up at the hooded woman. The wolf circled around towards the woman's side gently brushing against her leg.

"There is no such thing as fair and square in a fight; it's kill or be killed" the woman whispered. "Be glad that my Master instructed us that no Fairy Tail mage is to be killed, otherwise you'd be at the end of my wrath" Mira glared at her, before unleashing a powerful explosion sending the woman and wolf away from her.

Staggering up onto her feet Mira looked around, there was nobody around, in fact even Erigor was gone, he must have slipped away during their bout. With Mira's demonic senses she could hear footsteps of a male moving further away, most likely Erigor's, she could hear the soft steps of the wolf close by, but the woman was silent almost like she vanished. Her wounds were able to heal quickly thanks to her take over; taking a quick break she tried to readjust to the darkness and re-evaluate her tactics; her opponent used the darkness to her advantage, she would need to either exploit that darkness or bring their fight to a brighter area. Her thoughts were broken when four knives whizzed by her head landing in the console, five more from her left, then six from her right, they all missed her.

Mira turned to the doorway finding the hooded woman standing there and as if taunting her, the woman strolled away. Mira gave chase, the woman launched wave after wave of daggers towards her, Mira was able to avoid them as they hit the ceiling, floor and walls. They entered a small lobby before Mira retaliated.

"Darkness Wave!" dark energy washed along the ground towards her opponent, it hit her and smoke filled the area. A moment passed before daggers rained down from all directions, Mira countered by conjuring a hurricane of wind deflecting the daggers; as she stepped back from her last spell Mira was blindsided by the woman, kicked across the jaw, her arm was grabbed and twisted before being slammed onto the ground subjugated, Mira became disoriented.

"Are you the Hunter or the Hunted?" the woman's voice was eerie, the question itself was odd and Mira chose not to answer. The woman frowned, she pulled out a dagger and using the butt of her weapon struck Mira's sides; the girl held in her pain, her senses refocusing.

"I don't care!" Mira yelled, quickly building up energy beneath her, she blew up the ground; the hooded woman quickly kicked off Mira landing on the other side of the room, away from the hole and allowed Mira to fall into the sewers.

Crashing into water, Mira resurfaced, legs sinking into the murky water. Her opponent was too overwhelming, it was like fighting mist, always adapting and always untouchable; she needed to retreat and re-evaluate her tactics. Quickly making her way towards the tunnels, she suddenly heard beeping, her stomach sank and before she knew it, her escape route exploded. Mira covered her face with her arms.

"To be trapped like a helpless animal, how unsightly" the woman's voice echoed. "This is what it's like to be trapped, to be hunted" Mira could only glare at her.

"I have no idea what you are going on about" she shouted.

"Of course you don't, you never have" the woman's reply confused Mira and using her confused state, the woman launched a hook around Mira's waist pulling her out of the hole and hung her on the ceiling.

"Look around you; how will you make your escape?" she asked, Mira struggled to break free, but found that with each movement the wire dug deeper into her skin; she stopped before speaking.

"There are multiple ways to escape, the hallways, breaking through the ceiling, I can even break through the walls" her answer prompted a small laugh from the woman before she repeated her question.

"How will you make your escape?" this made Mira look around; that was when she noticed hundreds of gleaming wires scattered all around, all connected by the daggers the woman previously threw; Mira looked down, the same wires were set up ready to consume her if she fell. Ultimately she was trapped in a kill room; Mira carefully channeled magic into her palm needing to break free.

"I wouldn't move if I were you" the woman pulled on a wire tightening Mira's bindings drawing blood; Mira bit her tongue not daring to make a sound, if she couldn't break free then she would need to slip through.

There was a puff of smoke, Mira transformed herself into a small mouse, falling out of her restraints and into the sewers; maintaining her small form she slipped through the gaps between the wires. Once landing on the concrete that was paved on the side; Mira attempted to run but was met with an arrow landing in front of her, turning around another arrow blocked her path, six more followed imprisoning her. Mira looked back up, meeting the tip of an arrow pointed directly at her.

She was running out of options, and the only logical safe zone was where the hooded woman stood. A smirk formed over Mira's lips as she formulated her plan.

There was a stare off between the two, if one was to observe from a distance, they could probably see the dangerous situation the two have set themselves in; the first to make the proper move would be victorious. Mira leaped up transforming out of her mouse form and back into Satan Soul, towards the woman.

"Predictable" the woman said before launching the arrow, it released a cloud of smoke in Mira's face blinding her. Mira landed safely, recovering her vision and quickly looked around, the hooded woman was nowhere in sight, but like she predicted the spot was clean of wires; she glanced down at her stomach examining her wound, it was a deep gash and this sent shivers through her, only now realizing how sharp the wires really were. Looking around she tried to figure out how to escape; she was extra careful knowing that one wrong move would mean death. She hesitated at first but soon built up the courage to pluck on the wire; it vibrated releasing a soft sound to her ears, pleasant even, which was ironic considering their danger. She examined the wire with caution, observing every small detail to make sure it was safe to remove. A few minutes passed before Mira finally raised her claw, she touched the wire first, placing her finger over the surface; when she finally built up the courage, she cut it.

Like a domino effect all the wires in the room rebounded, slicing Mira into ribbons; she collapsed, in deep immeasurable pain, bleeding profoundly, she heard footsteps, the woman approached kneeling down and pulled out Mira's lacrima earpiece.

"I recommend you come get your mage; otherwise she's going to bleed to death" the woman said.

"What did you do to Mira!" Mavis' voice was heard, finally able to break through the jamming.

"Hurry up" crushing the crystal the hooded woman looked closer at Mira partially revealing her face; Mira's eyes widened with disbelief.

"Lisanna?" she gasped but didn't get to say anymore as she passed out.

* * *

Mavis gripped the bottom of her shirt, throwing a dirty look at Natsu who was now picking his teeth with his skewer; she continued to stare at him as if waiting for permission.

"Go to your mage, with her out of commission I won't consider it as interfering" he said. Mavis pushed passed him with Natsu grinning at her retreating figure. Lucy stood alone unsure what to do; she glanced at Natsu, nervous within his presence.

"Luigi right?" he asked.

"It's Lucy" her voice cracked.

"Ah, forgive me then Lily" he pointed towards Mavis' direction "You should probably go after her, she might need your help" Lucy frowned at him for getting her name wrong, but didn't need to be told twice to chase after the First. The girl ran so fast that she didn't hear Natsu's last remaining words. "So that's her daughter. I wonder how she would react if she found out how her mother died" his lips twisting into a sadistic grin.

Sayla along with Mystia and Rita approached Natsu, he flicked the skewer onto the ground; Sayla frowning picked it up.

"Natsu, what did I say about littering" she scolded, Natsu laughed sheepishly, apologizing; he then crossed out Mira's name from a list. He looked at Mystia and Rita; the latter looking a little disturbed having known what had just occurred.

"With Fairy Tail down one member, how do you think Mavis is going to pull off a win?" he asked.

"As long as Fairy Tail maintains focus on the flute and not let our members distract them, they have the chance to win" Sayla responded. "I'm sure Mavis knows this, at the moment she needs to understand our members capabilities before she pulls together a proper plan"

"What will you do then Master?" Mystia asked; Natsu shrugged his shoulders.

"Who knows, our troops know what they need to do so I sort of want to see how this all plays out" was his answer

"Are you that confident Master?" Rita asked, Natsu grinned at her question.

"And you're not?" he playfully asked; Rita shook her head furiously.

"No, that's not what I meant" she said frantically, Natsu waved her off.

"I'm just teasing Rita, no need to be so stiff; and regards to your question, yes I do have that much confidence in our members" Natsu stretched his arms motioning towards the train station. "Shall we?" everyone nodded following him.

Sayla observed Natsu's movements, with the way her Master acted she had no worries, she's known Natsu for over three hundred years, having raised him as a child and continued to watch over him after becoming a demon herself, she had complete faith in Natsu and if he was confident she would be as well. Her maternal instincts however couldn't help but worry for her girls; they were strong, she had no doubt about that, but there was this feeling in her gut she couldn't shake away, something was going to happen, something big.

* * *

Mavis stood face to face with the Mage Killer, the latter walking away from her recent fight. Lisanna knew she couldn't win in a fight against Mavis, she was certain the only one capable of defeating her was Master E.N.D and that alone showed a measure of Mavis' power.

"What did you do to Mirajane?" Mavis' voice was stern and at the edge of lashing out; Lisanna however wasn't afraid, she replied nonchalantly.

"Nothing you need to worry about" as Lisanna raised her head Mavis was able to get a glimpse of her face. Her reaction was one would expect from someone who meets a dead person.

"Lisanna? How? How are you alive?"

"What do you think?" her voice cold and distant nothing like how Mavis remembered; though it has been eight years since she last saw her, Mavis remembered Lisanna to be a kind and warm child, the girl in front of her was the opposite, her eyes alone told all Mavis needed to know, she was filled with anger and hatred. Mavis' face twisted into anger.

"Why would you do this, she is your sister!" Lisanna let out a ghost of a smile, one that reminded Mavis too much of Natsu's own.

"My family is with Tartaros, I have no family outside the guild" her answer was enough to tell Mavis everything she needed to know.

"You've become a demon haven't you" Mavis questioned her. Lisanna tilted her head curiously; she's learnt a lot about the First Master, some from what Master E.N.D has told her, but most from her years of observing the immortal woman, the First Master is known to be very accepting of all species, in fact demons especially fascinated the woman and she has dedicated a lot of her time observing and investigating them; much of this influence Lisanna guessed came from Master E.N.D; as such Mavis' reaction to her transformation seemed unusual.

"You seem displeased" she said, Mavis squinted, clenching her fist, she needed to take a breath to calm her nerves, she was going to have a serious talk with Natsu once this was all over.

"Why would you give up on your humanity?" her question sparked a laugh from Lisanna.

"Isn't that the million dollar question" quenching her laughter when Fenrir approached rubbing against Lisanna's leg, she stroked his soft fur. "I chose to become a demon because I despise humans" she motioned to the ruined buildings. "Humans are brash and destructive, they know nothing about compassion for others and only think about their own kind" Mavis frowned

"No species is perfect" she countered

"But you do not deny my word" at this Mavis didn't say anything. Lisanna shook her head walking passed the immortal woman; on the way she eyed Lucy who had caught up, her very presence caused the green mage to freeze up. Lucy looked to Mavis and recoiled when the First slammed her fist against the wall cracking it.

"Dammit!"


End file.
